


A Monument to Erectile Perfection

by CaliforniaQueen



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Anything that can go wrong will, Ben has a big one, Clone A Willy, Crack, Double Penetration, F/M, Masturbation, Murphy's Law, Rey needs dick, Ridiculous, Sex, Sex Toys, Sexting, so let’s make a mold of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:55:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27050800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaliforniaQueen/pseuds/CaliforniaQueen
Summary: It’s been ten years since Rey Niima last saw Ben Solo. Ten years since the night that lives in infamy in her mind. When she finds out he’s coming back to town to visit, she decides she’s going to go down that road again for old times sake...and maybe get herself a souvenir.Or - Rey hasn’t had sex in forever and is really horny and convinces Ben to immortalize his dick for her in a dildo making kit.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 206
Kudos: 287
Collections: Ijustfellintothissendhelp





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ieatboyss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ieatboyss/gifts), [amybeegood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybeegood/gifts).



> For the bean dildos. IYKYK

“It’s just a dry spell,” says Rose Tico in an attempt to console Rey Niima over drinks after work on a Friday night. The stress of their workweek, coupled with Rey’s sexual frustration, made drinks an absolute necessity for her, and Rose was always happy to go along for the ride. 

However, Rose’s enthusiasm this evening is proving to be a little loud and a lot raunchy. In the time they have been sitting in the noisy sports bar, jostled on either side by overenthusiastic hockey fans, Rose has already consumed three blue Hawaiians. Munching on a bowl of complimentary chips with not complimentary guacamole, she gleefully doles out sex advice. Rey isn’t sure how the topic managed to roll around to her sexual activities, or lack thereof, but here she is, getting reassured by the woman who herself is drowning in dick.

She shakes her head at Rose’s statement. Dry spell. 

Rey hates that expression. 

Makes her vag sound like a barren desert. 

Which, unfortunately, is pretty accurate. 

“Ok,” she concedes, “but is it still considered just a dry spell after three years?”

Rose freezes, a weighted down tortilla chip halfway to her open mouth. “You haven’t had sex in  _ how long? _ !” Rose blurts in a decidedly outside voice, staring at Rey, a dramatic look of shock on her face.

“Three years. Jesus Christ, keep your voice down,” Rey admonishes her best friend. She quickly scans the area surrounding their table at the center of the bar, hoping no one has overheard Rose’s outburst. The overwhelmingly male population doesn’t give them a passing glance, enthralled as they are with the current televised skirmish on the ice—their cheering is less for the sport and more for first blood. Rey feels slightly mollified and turns back to Rose. 

“Okay, wait a second,” Rose says, shaking her head and wagging her finger in a manner suggesting Rey was very wrong about her own sex life. She levels her gaze at her friend. “What about that one guy? That one  _ little _ guy. Mark. Or Martita. Or Milwaukee. You were with him at the office Christmas party. Didn’t you fuck that guy?” She leans forward in an attempt to take another sip of her drink—her fourth fruity concoction of the evening—and chases the straw around with her tongue in a wide arc.

Rey rolls her eyes and grimaces. She had tried hard in the five months since Christmas to forget that disaster of a date. “His name was Mitaka. And I most definitely did  _ not _ fuck him. We went back to my place and made out a bit, but when he grabbed my tits, it felt like he was kneading bread dough. He looked so shocked to touch them. I’m pretty sure he came in his pants because suddenly he remembered he had to go home and feed a pet turtle. That was my last attempt. It just isn’t worth the time and effort you have to put in. I’m better off with my trusty old vibrator.” Her shrug signals the end to her lackluster story, and she reaches for a chip to nibble. 

Rose snorts a stream of bright blue alcohol out of her nose at Rey’s response. Rey only shakes her head and motions at the waitress to cut Rose off and bring more napkins. 

“How can you say it isn’t worth it?” Rose asks. “I’m gonna get pounded into the mattress tonight, and I’m very much looking forward to it.” She punctuates her declaration with a hiccup and a thank you to the laughing waitress as she drops off the napkins and a glass of water. 

“Well, we don’t all have giant ginger dicks to go home to, now do we?” Rey teases, referencing Rose’s red-haired and very tall fiancé, Armitage Hux. Rose’s claims about his endowments are legendary in their circle of friends. 

“They don’t call him Arm for nothin’,” Rose cackles while making a fist and flexing her bicep. 

This time it’s Rey’s turn to snort. “You’re vile, Rosie.” 

“I’m satisfied, Rey,” she counters. “You just need a big man too.” Rose perks up at her comment, eyes going wide. “Oh my gosh, I forgot to tell you! Speaking of big men.” She wiggles her eyebrows at Rey suggestively. “Guess who DM’d me the other day asking about you?”

“I couldn’t possibly guess, Rose. You have way more followers than I do. It could literally be anybody.” She pops the maraschino cherry from her drink into her mouth and chews thoughtfully, waiting for Rose to deliver the goods. 

“Ben. Fucking. Solo,” Rose says, moving closer with each word until she is nearly in Rey’s face. Rey gasps in response.

“Shut up.”

“I will not.”

“How? He dropped off the face of the earth after prom. Remember when he got kicked out and sent to military school?”

“Yeah, I remember that was a sad day for your coochie,” she raised her glass in mock salute. “You didn’t even get a round two.”

“I swear to god I tried finding him for so long after graduation. I worked harder at that than the SATs,” Rey says, dejectedly. “He was my fucking white whale.”

“Putting the dick in Moby Dick, amirite?” Rose teases.

Rey nods. “You have no idea. Prom night lives one hundred percent rent-free in my mind,” Rey replies, her eyes going soft and dreamy at the memory. 

Rose recites, as if from memory, the tale of their senior prom. 

“Ahh, prom night dick. I recall the tale as if it were yesterday. Two hot teenagers, one hotter night, a bottle of cheap booze, and the Solo pool house.” 

Rey giggles, a flush staining her freckled cheeks. “I mean, we were still both pretty new at it, I had only done it twice before, and those weren’t even close to memorable. I swear to god Ben’s size made up for lack of finesse. He was my first hands-free orgasm. And to this day, it’s the biggest dick I’ve ever seen in real life. It was a monument to erectile perfection. Just the thought of him now with all the years of experience,” she trails off with a shiver. 

“Well, as I said, he asked about you. He was Armie’s college roommate, if you can believe that! Just two big dicks making their way in the world.” She scoops up another gob of guac with a chip and chews on it heartily, continuing her story. “Anyway, when Armie told Ben about me, he remembered that you and I were friends, and he sent the DM. It turns out he’s been living in LA and is driving up here next week for the class reunion.” 

“Class reunion. Ugh, I forgot about that,” Rey groans. “I spent so long trying to block out the torture we endured at the hands of Zorii Bliss.”

“Oh, you can handle her for one night,” Rose teases. “One night in exchange for an end to the dry spell? It’s a no brainer.”

“He might be married or have a girlfriend,” Rey argues, not wanting to get her hopes up. 

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Rose pulls out her phone, and Rey snatches it from her to skim the message. “He gave me his number and asked if you’re single because he’s interested in reconnecting.” Her fingers curl into air quotes around the word before she snatches her phone back.

“Oh, shit, no way.  _ He’s _ single?” Shock gives way to excitement, and Rey bounces in her chair. “Gimme gimme!” she exclaims, making a grabby motion with her hands. 

Rose texts Rey the number, giggling, while Rey does a celebratory chair dance. 

“I wasn’t going to go to that reunion, but I sure as shit will put up with super cheerleader Zorii for a chance at Ben Solo’s dick.”

Rose laughs with delight. “Do we see an end to the drought on the horizon, Miss Niima?”

Rey taps out a message and hits send, not wasting any time. 

“You’re goddamn right.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Ben is sitting home alone on a Friday night, playing with his XBox, a half-empty carton of cold fried rice, and a lukewarm beer on the table in front of him, when he gets her text. It is entirely unexpected, and Ben isn’t quite sure how to react. He doesn’t deal with the unexpected very much anymore, having fallen into a routine of sorts these last few years. He comes home from his tedious job in the accounting department at First Order Industries, orders bland takeout, plays Call Of Duty until he can’t keep his eyes open, and collapses into bed—alone. He tells everyone that he’s used to it, a creature of habit, and likes the comfort of not having to worry about impressing anyone. 

He lies.

Ben Solo does not like being alone. 

He said this to his best friend, Armitage Hux, during their phone call earlier in the week. Hux suggested joining Tinder, but Ben shrugged it off. He was not looking for a hookup.

“I want something more than just sex. I want a relationship. Like what you have with your fiance. What was her name again?”

“Rose. Rose Tico,” said Hux. “And where do you think we met? Hookup apps are just how people do things nowadays, Ben.”

Ben shook his head, glad that they decided to forgo the facetime and stick to just audio, so Hux didn’t see Ben’s frown of disdain. He didn’t want to insult Hux’s method of getting a girlfriend, and definitely didn’t want to insult the future wife. It was only then that he stopped, something tickling his memory at the thought of Hux’s fiance.

“Did you say Rose  _ Tico _ ?” 

“Yep.”

“From Alderaan?”

“Yeah,” Hux said. “How did you know?”

“I went to high school in Alderaan. At least until the last part of my senior year, when I got kicked out. I remember a Rose Tico. But I thought you said you lived in Mustafar.”

“I do. It’s not that far, but Rose comes to my place more often these days. She just doesn’t want to move out until her lease is up. It’ll leave her roommate Rey high and dry.”

Ben sat up a little straighter at Hux’s mention of Rose’s roommate, Rey. The name, so unusual for a woman, got his attention. He knew a Rey; very well. Biblically, one might say. But, it couldn’t be the same woman, could it?

“Rey Niima?” he ventured, attempting to disguise his immediate and intense interest. 

Hux chuckled. “Yeah, she and Rose went to high school together. So, I guess you know her, too, then?”

Ben felt his cheeks heat, and his palms start to sweat. “Yeah, you could say that,” he murmured, remembering very vividly just how well he  _ knows _ Rey Niima. Ben knows her scent, her taste, how she sounds when she comes. Even ten years later, he can still remember the way she felt, naked and warm, her smooth legs wrapped around his body, his hands on her breasts, nipples grazing his palms, her high-pitched whimpers rising to a crescendo as she-

“Solo!”

“Yeah! What? What happened?” Ben barked out, adjusting the spontaneous erection straining his jeans at the memory. 

“Where’d you go, man? Take a trip down memory lane?” The teasing note in Hux’s voice was unmistakable, and Ben knew he was caught. He shook it off and ignored the question. 

“She single?” Ben blurted without thinking. “I mean, it’s been a while. She probably doesn’t even remember me…” he trailed off, rubbing his neck with his hand and cursing his stupid reaction to a name he hadn’t heard in a decade. Even if she  _ did  _ remember him, she likely wouldn’t want anything to do with him, considering he had pretty much ghosted her and everyone else in Alderaan after he left. Too embarrassed and angry at the world, he had cut ties with anything and anybody that reminded him of home. It was why he had chosen not to return after getting his math degree in college. He couldn’t face the people he had so abruptly left behind. It was also why he’d been initially shocked that he had received an invitation to the ten-year high school reunion. 

He stopped short, his brain fitting the last piece to the puzzle that gave him an excuse to see her.

The reunion.

“Oh shit, the reunion,” he said, interrupting Hux. “I can see her then. Are you guys going? Is she going?”

“Slow down, man. Yes, she’s single. Message Rose on Twitter; she’ll give you the details. Yes, we are going, even though I begged to be relieved of that duty, but no dice. As far as Rey, I couldn’t tell you. But I could pass her a note in study hall.”

“Fuck off,” Ben said with a laugh. “Give me Rose’s info, and I’ll handle it. You’re useless.”

“Right. Sure. Without me, you wouldn’t even be considering coming back to Alderaan. Oh, hey, Rose is texting me. Let me know what happens. Later.”

“Yep.” Ben hung up and sat back on his couch, thinking about what Hux had said. 

_ Without me, you wouldn’t even be considering coming back to Alderaan. _   


Hux doesn’t know how wrong he is. It’s only Rey Ben would come back for. 

***

Two days after messaging Rose and giving her his number to pass on to Rey, Ben still hasn’t heard from her. He takes that as his answer, not considering the fact that he might be a little impatient. But, the reunion is in a week, and he hasn’t made travel plans yet, not wanting to make any assumptions. He starts to think he’s made the right choice.   


Disappointed, he settles into his Friday night ritual, completely shocked when she does, in fact, send him a response. 

_ —Hey there, Ben! It’s Rey Niima. I got your number from Rose. I hear you’re coming into town for the reunion. I’d LOVE to get together with you if you have the time.  _ 😉

He reads it three times before processing the fact that she capitalized the word love _and_ sent a wink emoji. He fist pumps the air, thankful for once that he lives alone. 

_ —Rey! It’s great to hear from you! Yeah, I was thinking about coming up a couple of days early. Are you free on Wednesday? Could we get drinks? _

His knees shaking and chewing nervously on his lip, Ben waits anxiously for Rey’s response. He sees the bubbles indicating her typing a text and wills himself to try and relax. 

Meanwhile, Rey is bouncing in her chair at the sports pub, dangerously close to knocking it over in the vortex of the enthusiastic hockey fans.

“He wants to get drinks, Rose! On Wednesday! I could be riding that man into the sunset in exactly five days. I feel like yodeling.”

“Well, don’t be too eager. Make him wait a minute. Let him sweat,” Rose giggles, slurping up the dregs of her drink now mixed with the melted ice.

“ _ You _ have already made him wait days, dipshit. He probably thought I didn’t like him.”

“Oh, you like him,” Rose coos. “You like him, like him.”

Rey rolls her eyes at Rose. “Shut up. I have a text to compose. And you have a mission for Wednesday.”

“What is the mission?” Rose asks eagerly.

“Find somewhere else to be so I can get laid. There will be no drinks except for the water he’ll need to hydrate in between all the banging.”

“Oh dang, girl,” Rose snaps her fingers and holds up a fist. “Knuckles.”

The two best friends fist bump, and Rey taps out her response to Ben, thoroughly pleased at the direction her week is about to take. 

_ —I am absolutely free on Wednesday. I’ll send you my address. I get off work at 5. I’ll be ready for you at 6. Don’t be late.  _ 😘 

It’s  _ I’ll be ready for you _ that does it. Ben sends a confirmation and signs off before throwing the phone on the couch. Reaching down to pull his cock out of his sweatpants, he finds he’s already hard as a rock and past the point of no return. Ben imagines just how ready for him she could be. Her tight, wet cunt would feel so hot and smooth. He’d slide inside and rock into her with a steady rhythm, making her come on his cock over and over again.   


It takes an embarrassingly short amount of time for  _ him _ to come, breathing her name and imagining it is her body instead of his hand bringing him over the edge. He cleans himself up and takes a shower, falling into bed sated and even a little hopeful, for the first time in a long while, dreaming of the girl he let get away. 


	3. Chapter 3

After getting home from the bar, Rey makes sure her bedroom door is locked, and her newly created high school prom playlist is playing just loud enough to keep Rose from overhearing anything. Her trusty vibrator—she nicknamed it Old Reliable years ago—sits charged and ready to go. After lighting a few candles and peeling off her clothes, she lays herself down on her bed and taps into the memories of that unforgettable night. 

***

Rey rested her head against Ben’s chest, feeling his heartbeat thrum steadily under her cheek, knowing he was feeling the chemistry between them too. The entire night had been a dream come true, from the dinner at a fancy restaurant (courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Solo) to the beautiful orchid corsage Ben had given her, and the feel of him pressed against her as they danced for the first time. They had been inseparable all evening, holding each other close during every slow song and holding hands when they were talking to friends. It was everything she could have hoped for, and she didn’t want the night to end. 

She trailed her fingertips down the soft lapels of his rented tuxedo, her mind wandering to the possibility of removing it later. She shivered as he ran his hand slowly up and down her back as they swayed to the music. 

Rey looked up at Ben in wonder. 

He was so pretty; he took her breath away. She felt a hot blush stain her cheeks as he captured her gaze, and she buried her head back in his chest, feeling the low rumble of his laughter. 

Ben’s asking her to prom had been a shock. Rey watched him all senior year, mesmerized by the length and breadth of him, the way he carried himself with confidence, how smart he was. She didn’t think he had even noticed her. Then one afternoon, he’d walked right up to her and Rose during a lunch period. Both girls were sitting on the grass in front of the library, munching on chips and soda and gossiping about the latest reality tv shows when Ben interrupted and blurted the invitation. Rey, surprised, had only nodded wide-eyed and watched him walk away with his hands in his pockets, muttering, “Cool. Cool.”

Now here she was, feeling like a princess in a strapless gown of champagne pink fluff borrowed from Rose’s older sister, Paige, and floating on a cloud of happiness. 

“Ben,” she whispered, tugging on his jacket to bring his face closer to hers.

“Yeah?” he answered, looking into her eyes for what seemed like forever. Rey reached up and brushed his lips with hers, gently teasing his lower lip with a swipe of her tongue before pulling away and raising an eyebrow at him. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked, hoping he would understand the question meant more than just leaving the hotel ballroom. 

He hesitated for just the briefest of moments, processing her words before a slow smile spread across his face. 

“I have an idea,” he said. 

Taking her by the hand, Ben pulled her to the exit, and Rey caught Rose’s eye just long enough to get a thumbs up and an obscene gesture from her best friend. Rey giggled and squeezed Ben’s hand, allowing him to pull her out into the chilly evening. She shivered as the breeze cooled her heated skin, and her heart raced with excitement as Ben draped his tuxedo jacket over her shoulders, placing a soft kiss on her parted lips before guiding her towards his father’s shiny red Ford Falcon. 

The drive to Ben’s house was short in actuality, although it felt like forever to Rey. She was anxious to get her hands on the body that she daydreamed about six periods a day, five days a week, every single night and extra on the weekends. 

She was so excited she could hardly stand it. 

Ben pulled up just shy of his parents’ house, not bothering to park in the driveway. Rey gave him a curious look, but he only placed his finger on his lips, silencing her with a wink and a mischievous grin that sent a shock of heat right through her. He quietly came around to her side of the car, took her hand, shut the car door very quietly, and proceeded to tug Rey at a jog into the backyard, both of them trying to muffle their giggles with their free hands. 

They made it past the pool into the pool house, and Ben casually flung the door open, ushering Rey inside. 

“I left it unlocked earlier,” he whispered. “I hope this is okay.”

Rey stepped inside just as Ben turned on the lights, dimming them just enough to see, but not enough to alert anyone in the main house of their presence. As her eyes adjusted to the low light, Rey could see a bed in the middle of the room made up with pretty floral sheets, and an ice chest placed against the far wall held what Rey only assumed were drinks for the two of them. There were snacks set out on a small side table alongside a little yellow box that made Rey blush to the tips of her ears. 

“An idea, huh?” she teased. “Looks more like a well thought out plan.”

She turned around just as Ben closed and locked the door behind him, both of them still breathing heavily from their stealthy jaunt across the Solo's backyard. Ben grinned and shrugged, looking like the cat who caught the canary, and stepped closer to her, reaching out to take the jacket off her shoulders, throwing it aside and returning his hands to caress her collarbones, running his thumbs in slow circles. 

“Is it?” he asked her quietly.

“I don’t...what?” Rey couldn’t think straight while he touched her like that. 

“Is it well thought out? Is it okay?” he asked. There was a slight tremor of nerves in his voice. 

“It’s okay. It’s really nice,” she said. 

“Have you done this before?”

She ducked her head before answering, afraid of what he might think of her. “I’ve only ever done it twice,” she whispered, low enough, so he had to stoop to hear her. “But I,” she took a deep breath and let it out through pursed lips. “I never wanted to as much as I do now.”

“Me too,” he said as he bent down to capture her lips with his. She wasn’t sure which part he agreed with, but she didn’t care. He didn’t seem to be bothered by her experience, and she wasn’t by his either. She just wanted every part of him to touch her as soon as possible. 

His plush mouth moved over hers, soft, supple lips urging hers to open and accept his tongue. She gave him what he asked for and moaned into his mouth, sliding her hands up to unbutton his shirt while he eased her backward toward the bed. 

She felt the back of her legs hit the side of the mattress and broke the kiss to look up at him, watching him watch her. Slowly, she turned, sweeping her hair to the side and exposing the criss-cross laces that made up the back of her dress. Looking back over her shoulder, she gave him an encouraging smile and watched as he untied the laces slowly and tugged them free, allowing the dress to puddle around her feet like a cloud of pink cotton candy. 

Shock and wonder ran across Ben’s face as he reached out to place his hands on her, pausing just long enough to get a nod of assent. He slid his hands up her torso and brushed his palms over her nipples, already tightened from the chill in the room. Rey gasped in response to how his touch made her ache for him. 

Emboldened by her response, Ben ducked his head and captured a rosy peak in his mouth, sucking and licking, while sliding his hand to the delicate lace covering her center. He moaned against her chest when he slid a finger into her flesh, feeling how wet she already was. 

“Wow,” was all he said as his mouth slid off of her, leaving her nipple shiny in the pale light. 

“I know,” she gasped, running her hands through his hair and tugging him over to encourage the same treatment for her other breast. “I’ve never felt like this before.”

With a growl that hit her straight in her core, he leaned towards her and attacked her other breast with more enthusiasm than the first. Rey could feel the intensity of his suckling and knew she would be marked up before the night was through. She liked the idea of him leaving a mark where only she could see. 

Caught up in the feel of his lips on her, Rey was taken by surprise as Ben lifted and laid her down on the bed, all with one arm. He never took his mouth off of her. She squealed as she landed on the soft bed, and Ben began moving in open-mouthed kisses down her torso, reaching the waist of her flimsy underwear. He stopped and looked up at her, running his tongue along the petal pink lace. 

“I wanna try something I read about, ok?” He asked her, reaching up to hook his fingers into her panties, waiting for permission. Rey’s eyes widened in acknowledgment and surprise. She’d most definitely read about that too, in the number of Harry Potter fanfiction stories she and Rose traded back and forth. But neither one of the guys she had been with before had been willing to, scoffing at her instead for even suggesting a reciprocation of what they had expected as a matter of course. And here was Ben, asking her permission. She bit her lip and pushed through the embarrassment to nod enthusiastically. 

Humming his approval, he slid the scrap of lace down her legs, slingshotting them across the room before diving between her thighs with vigorous enthusiasm. Rey swallowed her giggle at his antics in favor of a high-pitched noise of surprise at the electric jolt that ran through her at the first touch of his tongue. 

It wasn’t practiced or skilled, but Rey didn’t know any better, and neither did Ben. His eagerness and relentless determination to push her further and further only sent her excitement higher. He left no part of her untouched with his tongue, as his long, muscular arms reached up so he could caress her breasts while wrapping his lips around her throbbing clit. She fisted her hands in his hair, at his shoulders, on the sheets, reaching for something but afraid of giving in to it. She could feel the build-up—what she’d only ever felt when she was alone in the dark. The idea of it happening with Ben was almost too much to take. 

“Come on, baby, let me feel it,” she heard him say before sliding a thick finger inside her and fastening down on her sensitive flesh. 

“Oh, GOD!” Rey shouted, slamming the back of her hand against her mouth and biting her knuckle to muffle the scream ripped from her at the overwhelming pulsing and rippling inside her. She slumped back on the bed with a grunt, not realizing she had arched up so far off the mattress. 

She heard him digging into the box of condoms, vaguely amused at the sound of him ripping into it rather than just opening the package. A crinkling of the wrapper, a shift of the bed, and suddenly he was on top of her, supporting his weight with his arms and looking at her, his eyes bright with excitement. 

“You’re the hottest girl I’ve ever known, Rey.” He kissed her deeply, and she could taste the way she felt on his tongue, the slight embarrassment wiped away by the excitement of feeling him between her legs. She looked down, catching a glimpse of what to expect, and jerked backward. 

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed. 

“Is this ok?” he asked. “Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah, I’m—shit—yes, of course. It’s just, it’s a little big.”

Ben flushed scarlet at her reaction. “Well, yeah, I guess,” he mumbled sheepishly. “I'm pretty sure it’ll be ok. Do you still want to?” 

“Are you kidding? After what you just did, you can do anything to me,” she giggled. 

“Oh, really?” Ben’s voice was husky, his dark eyes clouded with desire, and he notched himself into her, pushing bit by bit, watching her eyes go wide. “Anything?” he teased as he moved forward.

“Oh. OH!” She whimpered at the feel of him stretching her to accommodate the size. “Maybe. Not. _Anything_. Just. Yet.”

With a short laugh and groan, he fit the rest of the way inside her, pausing when his hips were flush with hers to let her adjust. He kissed her again, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth to taste her, swallowing her moan as she began to wiggle, whimpering for him to move. 

“Please,” she whispered as he licked a hot, wet path down the side of her neck down her chest and to her breasts, lavishing attention on them in turn with his tongue and staying maddeningly still. 

“Please, what, Rey? Tell me what you want.”

“Please move! Please, Ben. Fuck!”

That was all the encouragement he needed. He began to set a steady rhythm with her, thrusting in and out, the wet slaps of their bodies advancing and retreating, joining the soft cries and pants disturbing the stillness of the room. The drag and push of him inside her hot channel sent the most exquisite pleasure through her, and Rey lost all sense of time and place. Nothing existed except this moment. 

Ben hitched one of her legs up over his thigh, and she took his lead, wrapping both legs around his waist, drawing him deeper with that change of angle. She felt a sense of pride at his reaction to the feeling, sending another surge of arousal through her. 

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he gasped. His movements became faster, more erratic, and she could feel his body tensing on top of her. “Can you do it again?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Rey panted, unable to think a coherent thought as Ben sped up, relentlessly pounding into her. 

Just then, she realized she could, as he drew her legs up and over his shoulders, driving himself into her frantically, his hard cock hitting something inside her just right, and she felt it build until it spilled over, and her whole body seemed to convulse with a shout. Her soft cunt clenched hard on his cock, pulling him to come with her with a deep, guttural sound. 

“Holy shit,” Rey said after a minute, still gasping and feeling Ben’s breath in hot puffs on her neck. “I thought you had to be in your twenties or married for something like that.”

Ben laughed and lifted himself off her, disposing of the condom and flopping down next to her. 

“That was awesome,” he said, “I want to do that again.”

Rey was nothing if not an accommodating girl. Who could say no to that? She bit her lip and began her journey south to return the favor.

  
***

Rey feels herself getting closer as she remembers the way he gasped in shock as she wrapped her lips around him, how he pulsed inside her when he came in her mouth, how he kissed her, and told her she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Everything he did that night was seared in her memory. 

She can hear the buzzing of the vibrator, the squelch of her wet cunt as she slides it in and out. _It’s happening,_ she thinks, as she prepares for the orgasm to tear through her. 

“Oh god,” she moans. She can feel it. It’s coming. It’s...

With a grinding squeak, her vibrator goes silent and stops. Immediately, her body stops reacting to the level ten out of ten vibrations surging through her that has all of a sudden ceased. 

“No!” she hollers, her frustration with her only toy apparent in the horrified tone of her voice. 

“Fuck fuck FUCK!” she curses, banging the slick, pink vibrator against her side table, praying it’s just a loose connection. It lurches once, twice, three times as she repeatedly bangs it, all remnants of any potential orgasm long gone.

In a fit of horny, half-drunk temper, Rey hurls the offending sex aid across the room, hitting the wall adjoining Rose’s room with a wet smack. She knows she could try again, but her fingers just won’t do the same job as Old Reliable. Giving up, Rey flops on her belly and decides to forget it. She wraps up in her duvet and buries her face in her pillow, huffing out a mournful “Ben” before giving in with a final thought before sleep takes over. 

_Wednesday can’t come soon enough._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact - this is fiction. Sex when you’re 18 sucks. 🤣
> 
> Thanks bunches to Brooke for the beta! 
> 
> [Rey’s Dress](http://www.daveandjohnny.com/dave-and-johnny-prom-dresses-long/dave-and-johnny-prom-dress-A8507.php)


	4. Chapter 4

Rose stumbles out of her bedroom Saturday morning to find Rey sitting at the kitchen table nibbling on a piece of toast, a large mug in front of her. 

“Coffee?” she mumbles inquisitively in Rey’s general direction. Her voice is gravelly, her hair, an unruly mess, and day-old mascara smeared under her eyes creates a look reminiscent of a Tim Burton character. 

“Mhm,” Rey responds, pointing with her head towards the counter, where a large pot of coffee sits nearly full to the brim. 

Rose pours herself a mug, doctoring it up with sugary creamers, and sits across the table eyeing Rey curiously. Rey pushes the plate of toast towards Rose, acknowledging her grunt of thanks. 

Rose alternately slurps, stares, nibbles, slurps, and stares until Rey can’t handle it anymore. She plunks her mug down on the table with a bit more force than necessary, sloshing a small puddle of coffee onto the surface, and glares at her best friend. 

“Fucking what?”

“Who was in your room last night?” Rose questions with no preamble. 

“What? Nobody. What are you talking about?”

Rose shrugs and takes another sip of her coffee, drawing out the time Rey has to wait—driving her crazy in the process. 

“Rose!”

“I heard a lot of noise. Like someone was knocking on the door, is all. Some sexy time music. I thought maybe you had someone over. No big deal,” she says, bringing the mug to her face to hide her smirk. “I just thought you’d be holding out for your hero.”

Rey drops her head to her arms, folded on the table in front of her, and sighs dramatically. She mumbles an incoherent response that makes Rose set her mug down and cock her head. 

“Sorry, didn’t catch that. What now?”

“I SAID,” Rey sasses, lifting her head and avoiding eye contact out of sheer embarrassment at Rose having heard her last night. “It was just me.”

“Oh, I  _ see _ ,” Rose teases. “A little “Solo” session.”

Rey can practically  _ hear _ the air quotes as Rose speaks. She sticks her tongue out and goes back to burying her head in her arms, ostrich style. 

Rose’s devious giggle tinkles like a bell, irritating Rey further. 

“So why aren’t you in a better mood?”

“Because it broke.”

“What broke?”

With a sigh, Rey lifts her head, resting her chin on a fist. “My vibrator broke. That’s what you heard—me banging it on the bedside table and then throwing it at the wall when I got pissed.”

The silence between them crackles with Rose’s barely contained amusement. She pinches her lips together, and Rey can see the effort it’s taking to avoid smiling. Rose takes deep, slow breaths through her nose and Rey rolls her eyes. 

“Just get it over with.”

Rose cracks with a guffaw, and the ensuing peals of laughter are enough to send waves of embarrassment over Rey. What had seemed so disastrous last night was barely past ridiculous in the light of day. She groans again and returns her head to its previous ostrich position. 

“Your lust...for Ben Solo...turned your coochie...into a vibe killer,” she wheezes in between bursts of laughter. “You’re a vibe killer. Bad vibes.” Rose cackles at her series of jokes, tears streaming down her pink cheeks. She begins to hiccup and walks to the sink to get a glass of water, snorting with glee and muttering “bad vibes” between sips. 

“I hate you.”

“Yeah, I know. So what now, Killer Cooch?”

“I guess I‘ll get a new one,” Rey says with a shrug. “And you can say that one more time before we forget you ever strung those words together.”

“Oh come on. That’s a good one. You could even set it to music. Like Queen! She’s a  _ KILLER cooooch!” _

“ROSE!”

“What?!”

“Fucking stop! I’m distraught!”

“Fine. Big baby. Just order a new one. Oh! I just remembered I have a coupon code for Rebel Rapture that you can have. They’re offering free two day shipping. You should be able to fulfill yourself by Monday,” Rose offers, tacking on a quiet “Killer Cooch” at the end. 

“That’s it. I heard it. You had your fun. It’s off the table now.”

Rose laughs and goes to retrieve her laptop, returning to sit next to Rey and boot it up. She pulls up the Rebel Rapture website and a buffet of sexual aids bombard them from the screen. 

“So, what are we looking for? Realism? Self-lubricating? Maybe a monster-type tentacle dildo?” Rose clicks the link for the niche toys and Rey’s eyes widen. 

“For fuck’s sake, Rose, you sound like a traveling salesman. And no, I am not into tentacle porn, thank you very much, so you can go back. Hit the back button.” She pushes Rose’s hand out of the way, eager to stop looking at the row upon row of curved, studded, and quite frankly, all too realistic tentacle dildos. Rey has never been one to kink shame, but she’s also never been one to want to fuck an octopus. So that option was most definitely a no go. 

“Wait, hang on!” Rose deflects Rey’s hand and points to the small thumbnail at the bottom of the screen suggesting products they might be interested in. She clicks the link to have a closer look.

“What is it?”

“Oh my god, Rey. This is perfect.”

“What the hell is it?”

Rose turns the laptop so Rey can have a better view. She cocks her head like a curious puppy as she reads the bold print at the top of the screen. 

**CLONE YOUR DING-A-LING**

“What in the actual fuck is this?” she mutters glancing at Rose only to see her eyes looking wide and crazy, and a large ridiculous grin on her face. She begins to read the description aloud. 

“ _ Immortalize your sweetheart’s sexy bits into the gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving. Our top rated silicone molding kits will allow you to create the best quality sex toys you’ve ever had! _ ”

“You can make a replica of Ben’s dick, Rey! You can actually have your very own battery operated Ben! Sit it on your dresser like a monument to—what did you call it?”

“Erectile per-.”

“Perfection!” Rose shouted triumphantly. “Yes! Can you imagine?”

“How does it work?” Rey murmurs, clicking on the picture of a tube emblazoned with a cartoon penis and  **CLONE A DING-A-LING** in large block letters. They skim over the description and look at each other. 

“I guess it’s like those plaster cast things they use to make rubber masks. But instead of a monster face, you get a monster dong.” 

Ignoring Rose’s comment, Rey reads further, encouraged by the reviews claiming the ease of use and customer satisfaction. She sits back and hums to herself for a moment, only stopping when she hears Rose singing along and realizes she’s been humming  _ Killer Queen _ the entire time. Huffing in irritation, she shoves Rose, who only giggles. 

“Well, what do you think?”

“This is genius, Rose. I can have him in person and then even after he goes back to LA. Holy shit this is brilliant.”

“Can I watch?” Rose asks, a maniacal gleam in her eye.

“What the fuck? No, you can’t watch. I love you, Rose, but Jesus you need boundaries. I’m not an exhibitionist.”

“I don’t want to watch you fuck,” Rose says, rolling her eyes. She stops and looks thoughtful. “Well, actually now I kinda do. But,” she says, holding up a finger to stop Rey’s impending tirade, “what I really want to watch is the creative process. I love those special effects reality shows where they have competitions to make the most outrageous applied movie makeup. You think he’d let me watch?”

Rey stares at Rose, wondering if they met today instead of in seventh grade, if she would be completely terrified of this woman. 

“No.”

“But-“

“Negative.”

“Fine,” Rose scoffs. “But I want a detailed account when it’s done. Operation Clone A Ding-A-Ling is underway! You should get that cock ring, too. Keep him big and strong like bull,” she says in an over-the-top Russian accent. 

“Oh my god, you’re the weirdest person I have ever known. Put it in the cart! I’m going to get my wallet!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, big thanks to Brooke for the beta. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Brooke for the beta and boosting my ego! 😉

The weekend passes uneventfully—the mundane tasks of Saturday housework and laundry, Sunday morning loafing, and preparing for the workweek somehow just barely succeed in keeping Rey’s mind off Ben. 

She tries hard not to acknowledge her nerves, pushing them down whenever they sneak up behind her while pulling a load of towels out of the drier, sweeping the bathroom floor, or chopping the vegetables for her meal prep. She’s pretty proud of how she’s avoiding all thoughts of him, much to the chagrin of Rose. The latter is vehemently shushed whenever she attempts to vocalize the sound of the first consonant of the alphabet, regardless of the word it introduces. 

“If you shush me one more time, I’ll cunt punt you across this apartment,” Rose hurls at her on Sunday night, finally finished with humoring Rey and her quirks. 

“Pretty talk. Kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“Fuck off, Niima.”

“Back at ya, Tico.”

Rey yelps as Rose tosses a throw pillow at her head with one hand while holding up a pink polished middle finger with the other. 

“Missed me!” she says. 

“I know where you sleep,” Rose deadpans, slowly placing a piece of popcorn on her tongue, her unblinking gaze boring into Rey, causing her to burst into laughter. 

“You win,” Rey laughs. “You’re so scary when you do that.” She turns back to folding her laundry, checking the timer on her phone to see if it’s time to remove her pore tightening face mask, when she sees a notification pop up, making her freeze in fear.

_Ben Solo FaceTime Call_

“ROSE!”

“What?” she answers, shoveling another handful of popcorn in her mouth without missing a beat, her eyes glued to _Unsolved Mysteries_ on TV. 

“He’s calling me,” Rey whispers as if Ben were standing in the room next to her.

“Who?” Rose answers in a mocking stage whisper. 

“Ben!”

“Okay,” she crunches another handful of popcorn, this time not bothering to swallow her mouthful before replying. “So?”

“What do I do?” Rey asks frantically. 

“Answer it. What’s gotten into you?”

“It’s a FaceTime. He wants to see my face!”

“Well, Rey, he's going to be seeing your vagina in three days, so I don’t know what to tell you. Answer the fucking call!”

“You answer it! I have to wash this mask off!” 

Rey chucks her phone in Rose’s direction and hurdles over her laundry basket in a beeline for the bathroom, ignoring Rose’s screech of distress, followed by, “Hi, Ben! Long time no see! Rey will be here in a minute. She’s just having a super quick mental break.”

“Um, hi, Rose,” Ben says. He chuckles and runs his hand through his hair, obviously both nervous and shy, which Rose has to admit is pretty cute. 

“So, I hear you’re coming back to no man’s land for the reunion this week. You’re brave,” she jokes. 

“Yeah,” he says. His expressive face conveys panic at having to interact with someone other than Rey. Rose feels slightly guilty at giving Ben a hard time. But only slightly. 

“I, uh, thought it might be fun,” he finishes, his tone uncertain. 

“You don’t get out much, do you, Ben?” she teases. 

“Uh…not really?”

Rose shakes her head at Ben’s seeming inability to grasp that she’s joking. She tries another tack, her curiosity getting the better of her. “So what have you been up to? How come you waited a decade to call Rey?”

“I...uh.”

“Excuse me! Thank you, Rose,” Rey huffs, breathless and bright eyed, her face scrubbed pink and free from her green face mask. She holds out her hand for her phone, glaring at her best friend, and Rose notices she’s put on mascara and lipgloss and fluffed her shoulder-length hair into a sexy, tousled mess. She’s pretty impressed at Rey’s speed makeover and gives her a thumbs-up before handing the phone over and hollering her goodbye to Ben. 

“See ya soon, Ben!”

“Yeah. Bye, Rose.”

“I am so, so sorry, Ben. Rose is just as crazy now as she was in school,” Rey says, closing her door behind her and flopping onto her bed. “Probably more so, since she has Armitage eating out of her hand and encouraging her bullshit.” 

Rey makes herself comfortable, briefly saying an internal prayer of thanks that he can’t see the unmade bed, clothes needing ironing strewn haphazardly across all available surfaces, and the broken vibrator, lying forlornly on the floor across the room.

He laughs softly at her assessment of Rose, a low chuckle that sends tingles up and down her spine. His voice is more resonant than she remembers but just as appealing to Rey now as it was when she was eighteen. 

He’s definitely grown up. She’d love to rip his clothes off and see just how much he’s grown. 

“I hope you don’t mind me calling without warning,” he says, interrupting her less than pure musings. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since Friday night.”

A surge of arousal at the combination of his words, the tenor of his voice, and the distinct look he’s giving her make her squirm on her comforter. She can feel her cheeks burning as she responds. 

“I don’t mind at all. I’ve been thinking about you too.”

She adjusts herself and tries to find the best angle for the video chat, holding her phone above her, tilting her head and arranging her hair just so, offering up a small, hopefully seductive smile.

“Wow, Rey. You—wow—you haven’t aged a bit. You look beautiful if you don’t mind me saying so.”

She can feel herself wanting to giggle girlishly at his compliment. Her body feels hot, and her stomach flutters with a rush of adrenaline. 

He has definitely grown into his features. His ears, which used to be a bit big and stick out slightly, are now covered by his waves of gorgeous black hair. His face is sharper but more mature. His jaw is covered in a shadow of a day’s beard growth. Rey remembers what it felt like to have his face between her thighs and imagines what that scruff of beard would feel like on her sensitive flesh. She squirms and nearly groans at the thought. 

“You look pretty great yourself. It’s good to see your face. It’s been way too long.”

A look passes over his face that could be taken for sorrow, and Rey wonders at it. 

“Did I say something wrong?” she asks, hoping she hasn’t ruined anything before the adventure even begins. 

Her order is expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon, after all. 

“No, no. You didn’t. I just-I guess I should apologize to you.”

“What for?”

He takes a deep breath, and she can see his shoulders rise and fall with the effort of it. “For leaving as I did. For not answering any emails or letters. For going off the grid. Rey, I want you to know that the night we spent together was absolutely one of the best nights of my life. It’s bothered me for a long time that maybe you thought-I don’t know. That I was trying to ghost you deliberately.”

“Ben, it’s okay,” she interrupts. “We were just kids. It happens. I knew something went down, and you had to leave.”

“But, I should have said goodbye,” he insists. 

Rey’s heart squeezes at the look in his eyes, and for some odd reason, the feelings she had earlier of wanting to rip his clothes off of him are replaced by a need to comfort him. She feels like running her hand through his hair and telling him it’s all forgiven. 

“I’ll let you buy me dinner to apologize then,” she says, grinning at his relief. “I forgive you. How’s that?” she asks, attempting to lighten the mood. She’s not ready to tackle any feelings she might have about him just yet. 

He visibly relaxes and nods his head. 

“Deal. Okay. Thanks. So, tell me about yourself. What have you been up to?”

Rey spends the next half hour telling Ben about how she and Rose went to school at the same university, roomed together, and now have jobs at the same technology company. She admits she’s a little nervous about living on her own when Rose moves out and that she feels like she’s losing a part of herself to Armitage.

“I can understand how hard it must be to say goodbye to something you’ve gotten used to. It’s how I felt after my grandmother died. She’s the one I lived with after,” he falters a bit before continuing. “Well, after everything happened.”

“What _did_ happen, Ben? Do you mind me asking?”

He takes another deep breath and releases it on a groan. He grimaces in embarrassment before nodding.

“I guess it’s been long enough. So, you know I got expelled, right?”

“Well, yeah, but I don’t know why.”

“Porn,” he says, without missing a beat. 

Rey stops to process what she has just heard. Her mind begins cataloging all of the possibilities he could spring on her. Was he making porn? In high school? Selling it? Watching it in class?

“Excuse me?” she manages to choke out. 

His answering laugh only makes her more nervous. 

“I wasn’t _in_ porn, Rey.” 

This time she is the one who visibly relaxes. Not that she’d have a problem with sleeping with a porn star, it’s just...well; he always seemed so shy. She figures she has plenty of time to unpack her relief later. 

“Okay. So, what did you do?”

“Remember that guy, Andy Snoke?”

“Snoke? That guy was a fucking bully. I hated that dude. He was always trying to cheat off my Spanish tests. I heard he’s been in and out of jail a couple of times.” She stops when a thought comes to her that makes her a little sick. She lowers her voice an octave to ask, “Was _he_ in porn?”

“Jesus, no. God, that’s gross,” Ben laughs. “Well, long story short, he dared me.”

“Dared you?”

“He dared me that I couldn’t patch porn into the principal’s computer.”

“You didn’t!”

“To my great shame. I did. My parents lost their minds. I’ve never seen my dad so angry before _or_ since.”

“That must have been awful,” she says.

He shrugs noncommittally. “The thing with my parents is they were never around. I wanted their attention. I took the opportunity Snoke provided, and it snowballed. 

“I used what I knew about computers and did some idiotic shit. Only, I left bread crumbs. Stuff I knew would lead it back to me. As I said, I wanted their attention and figured getting in trouble was an excellent way to get it.”

He lets out a long sigh, rubbing the back of his neck, his face conveying his disappointment and sorrow before continuing.

“But it backfired. I got expelled and sent to military school to finish out my senior year. I went into it thinking I would see them more, and I got sent away. I didn’t see them for months. When I finally did, they weren’t exactly welcoming.

“So, I lived with my grandmother through college. I never really wanted to come back to Alderaan. I was still pretty pissed at my parents. After a while, I was too embarrassed to go back. It had been so long, and I was afraid of what people would say.”

Rey takes in his story, her mind running the gamut from shock to sorrow and settling on sympathy. 

“So why come back now?” 

“I’ve since reconciled with my parents. And I’ve wanted to see them. And then Hux mentioned the reunion, and you.”

“Me?”

“Well, yeah. You’re a pretty good reason to come back to Alderaan.”

“Ben Solo, you’re a sweet talker.”

“I’m trying. Is it working?”

She nods, unable to stop smiling at him. “It’s working. I’m really looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday.”

“Me too.”

They fall into a relaxed, comfortable exchange, talking about favorite foods (lasagne for her, chicken Parmesan for him), music, and movies (he only teases her slightly at her choice of _Mean Girls_ ). Rey finds that she wants to know everything about him, and it scares her just a little bit. She takes advantage of a lull in the conversation to make a clean getaway. 

“It’s getting late, Ben. I should probably get going.”

He nods in agreement, “Yeah, you’re right. Wow, time flew by. Before we go though, can I tell you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

His voice deepens subtly, and his eyes darken with a look that brings Rey right back to her goal. 

“I’d really like to kiss you again, Rey. Do you think you’d like that, too?”

 _Oh Ben, the things I’m going to do to you,_ she thinks. She grins mischievously.

“Definitely, Ben. I’ll be daydreaming about it until I see you.” 

“I’ll text you if that’s ok?” At her answering nod, he grins and waves. “Good night, Rey.” 

“‘Night,” she says. She ends the call and flips back on her bed, her mind reeling with all the information and her body charged with pent up sexual frustration. She thinks about kissing him, his lips soft and sweet, his warm breath on her neck, his tongue tasting her.

She moans and dips her hand into her shorts, but before she can ease a finger through her wet folds, she jolts up, surprised by a thudding knock on her bedroom door. She snatches her hand back like a guilty child caught stealing cookies. 

“What?!”

Rose opens the door and pokes her head through the doorway. “It got quiet. I couldn’t hear anything.”

“Were you listening? God, you’re a horrible person!”

“My room is right there. I can’t help if I overhear your boring ass phone calls. Not even phone sex? He was right there! What a waste.”

“No, it was nice. We just talked.”

“Like dirty talk?”

“No, you pervert. Just talked. About our lives, about what we’ve been up to.”

Rose gives her a knowing look. “You like him.”

“Get out!” Rey picks up a pillow and throws it at Rose, just in time to hit the door as she slams it, laughing with glee. Rey leans back and thinks about what Rose said. 

She didn’t want to admit it earlier, but after spending this time talking to Ben, getting to know him a little better, she realizes it’s not just sexual attraction and compatibility.

She does like him. 

And he lives five hours away. 

What the hell has she gotten herself into?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Brooke for the beta and to all of my enablers who seem to enjoy the nonsense I dish out. Xoxo

“Did you move the keys? Rose? Rose, where are you?” Rey hollers as she digs through the glass bowl by the front door. The rainbow-colored, faux jewels act as a resting place for their keys to the mailbox, laundry room, and storage unit, all linked together on a sombrero keychain—a souvenir from their last spring break trip to Mexico during senior year. Rey stomps her foot in frustration at not locating the gaudy bauble. 

“Rose!!” she shouts again, this minor hiccup just the cherry on top of the shit sundae her day has been. First, she forgets to set her alarm and just barely makes it out the door in time for work. They run out of coffee in the breakroom before she can even get a cup, resulting in a mid-morning caffeine headache; she spills salad dressing from lunch all over her skirt ruining the fabric with giant oil stains, and now she can’t find the mailbox key.

_ This is the Monday from Hell, _ she thinks as she sinks onto a dining room chair.

She was looking forward to getting her shipment from Rebel Rapture like a kid waiting for Christmas Day, and now she’ll have to wait that much longer before Rose comes back from wherever she ran off to and helps her find the key. She kicks off her shoes and flings them across the room, laughing when one flies in a perfect arc and knocks over the framed picture of Rose and Armitage on the table behind the sofa. Acknowledging how childish she is behaving, Rey still feels satisfaction at the result of her tantrum. 

As if she has summoned her wayward roommate, Rose bursts through the door, breathing heavily, like she has just run the entire two flights up to the apartment. 

“I just ran the entire two flights up to the apartment,” Rose pants. “The elevator jammed again. But look what I got!”

Rose has the mailbox key slipped on to her thumb and a medium-sized package under her arm that she lifts up like the Stanley Cup. It takes all of Rey’s energy reserves to keep from tackling her best friend and snatching the box like a Dickensian street urchin. 

“Give it to me!” Rey squeals, jumping up out of her seat and rushing to Rose, who pulls the box away just in time, the Lucy Van Pelt to her Charlie Brown. 

“Rose! Give it. To me! I’ve had a shitty day, and you’re not helping!”

“If I give it to you, you’ll just go open it by yourself!”

“That’s kind of the point!”

“No,” Rose yanks the package back as Rey reaches for it again. “I want to see what’s in it, too. Go get something to open it, and we’ll unbox it together.”

“You won’t leave me alone until you have inspected it all, will you?”

“Not likely, Niima.”

“Ugh, fine.” She stomps off to the utility drawer in the kitchen, rifling through ketchup packets, triple-A batteries, and expired coupons until she comes up with the box cutter she is searching for. She places it in Rose’s outstretched hand and plops down next to her on the sofa.

“Would you like to do the honors, Rey?” Rose asks like a restaurant server offering her a wine cork to sniff.

“Just fucking open it, you ass,” Rey retorts with a look of irritation on her face.

Rose clicks the blade up from its protective plastic casing. “Wanna rumble?” she says in her best T-Bird impression, causing Rey to break into laughter, finally. 

“Okay, we’re totally watching  _ Grease _ later. Now open it!”

Rose slides the blade through the packing tape easily, parting the cardboard flaps and revealing their treasure trove of titillation. Rey watches her pull out several items, her brow furrowed in confusion. 

“Rose, what is all of this stuff?”

“I thought you needed some extras. Here we have clit sensitizing gel, strawberry flavored. A trusty bottle of Astroglide-”

“Rose, that’s enough lube for a small European country!”

“You’re welcome for my preparation. There’s no shelf life on lube, Rey. Now stop interrupting.” 

“Yes, there is, Rose. I’ll never use all that. Jesus, I just thought the dildo maker was really expensive. What the hell else did you add to the cart, you maniac?”

“Shh,” Rose says, her finger placed not-so-gently on Rey’s lips. “Let’s continue. These here are the Ultra Sweller Penis Rings.”

“Jesus Christ. What the hell are those for?”   


“To make him ultra swol, naturally. And the piece de resistance! The dick molder 3000.”

“Ew.”

“I thought it sounded funnier than Clone-A-Dingaling, but who am I to judge?” Rose shrugs.

“What’s this?” Rey asks, pulling another item out of the box. Rose snatches it out of her hand but not before Rey reads what is on its packaging. “Oh, no. I draw the line at butt stuff. I’m not messing with any plugs.”

“That’s for me, ya prude,” Rose says, tossing it aside and pulling the directions out of the kit. 

“Wait. You use-”

“Not about me right now, Rey,” Rose says. Her cheeks are a healthy pink, and she avoids Rey’s gaze as she fiddles with the packaging.

“How the hell are  _ you _ embarrassed? And did  _ my  _ credit card pay for that?”

“Oh. Yeah. Well, I bought you lunch, so now we’re even.”

“I spilled my lunch on myself. I feel like I’m still the loser in this scenario.”

Rose chuckles at Rey’s comment before responding to the other question. “As for the plug, it’s just something Armie and I wanted to try. That’s all. Now here,” she hands Rey the directions, unfolded to the size of a road map, and stands up. “I have something for you. Be right back.”

Rey skims over the directions, noting the rudimentary drawing of a cartoon penis encased in a tube, and shakes her head with a giggle. Running her finger down the list of items needed, she shouts to Rose, “Jesus, you need a shitload of cookware for this. I feel like I’m auditioning for Master Chef.”

Rose exits her bedroom carrying a gift bag and snorts. “Can you imagine Gordon Ramsey judging your penis molding abilities? Calling you an idiot sandwich for making a lumpy dildo?”

Rey continues reading the directions, biting her lip in concentration, and points to one illustration. “They are adamant about temperature control. Do we even have a thermometer?” 

“We have that candy thermometer my mom left here last year when we made peanut brittle. Will that work?”

Rey shrugs, “I guess so. I also need a mixing bowl, measuring cup, and a wooden spoon.”

“Oh man, you should wear one of those frilly fifties housewife aprons and a chef’s hat. And nothing else. Except this.” She hands Rey the gift bag, winking at the blush staining her cheeks. 

“What is it?” Rey asks, digging around in the silver tissue and pulling out a small item wrapped in a separate piece of paper. She peels it open and gasps at what is inside. 

“I thought maybe you could use a little something special for the occasion,” Rose teases.

Speechless, Rey pulls out the small pieces of fabric from the package. A sheer, almost non-existent, nude bra with delicate straps and brightly colored embroidered butterflies over the nipple area matches a tiny pair of thong underwear with a butterfly embroidered above the gusset. The lingerie is like nothing she has ever owned in her life and leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. She flushes deeper and shoves it back into the bag.

“Nope. No way. Uh, uh.”

“Rey, come on.”

“I will look ridiculous in that.”

“You’ll look hot as fuck. Ben’ll come in his pants when he sees you wearing that.”

“That defeats the purpose of the entire evening, Rose. Also, not gonna happen.”

“Come on, Rey. He’s literally going to see you naked.”

“Somehow, this is worse than naked. I don’t know why; it just is. No way. Thanks, but no thanks.”

Rose blows a raspberry at Rey and frowns. “You’re no fun.”

“And you are insane. Help me gather my supplies for this science project, you enabler.” Rey rises from her perch on the couch to search the kitchen for her supplies and calls out over her shoulder, “By the way, what is clit sensitizing gel?”

* * *

Much later, when Rey has eaten a comforting bowl of mac and cheese, put on her favorite ratty sweats, and is settling into bed, she pulls out the small bottle of strawberry flavored gel. She turns it around in her hand, reading the small print on the side of the bottle. 

“ _ Massage Strawberry Clit Sensitizer Gel directly onto the clitoris and shiver as its tingling warmth takes you to one bed-quaking orgasm after another _ . Well, that certainly sounds interesting.” 

She squirts a small amount onto her finger and gives it a sniff. The smell reminds her of the scented Strawberry Shortcake dolls she used to play with from the classroom toybox at school. 

“Not exactly a scent you want to associate with screwing, but okay,” she muses. 

She sticks her tongue out and touches it to the tip of her finger. The cloying sweetness reminds her of the sticky strawberry candies from the Hickory Farms meat and cheese packages she used to get in the mall at Christmas. There’s a slight tingle on her tongue, which piques her curiosity. She slides her hand inside her sweatpants while still holding on to the bottle with the other, reading while she massages the gel into her clit. 

“ _ Massage into clitoral area ten to fifteen minutes before sex.  _ Can’t be spontaneous with this stuff, I guess.”

She massages the gel in deeper, enjoying the slippery stickiness against her delicate flesh. She just begins to increase the pressure when she feels her phone vibrate underneath her, startling her. She pulls her hand out, wiping it guiltily on her sweatpants as she thumbs the passkey into her phone and sees a text from Ben. She feels a slight tingling sensation in her clit that accompanies the fluttering in her belly at the sight of his name. Smiling like a girl with her first crush, she reads what he has sent. 

_ —Hey Rey, how was your Monday? You busy? _

_ Oh just masturbating a bit before bed. No big deal, _ she thinks, before typing ou t her response.

_ —Not busy at all. A complete nightmare! Yours? _

_ —Eh. Typical. Not too exciting when you’re an accountant after tax season. _

She imagines him sitting over a computer, pushing his glasses up, looking very studious, and wrinkles her nose at how cute he would be concentrating on tax codes. 

_ —Probably lovely and relaxing, I’d wager. _

_ —Not really. I’m bored. _

_ —Oh? No hobbies? _

_ —I like to read and play Xbox, but none of those seem to be doing it for me tonight.  _

Rey smirks at how she could be doing it for him tonight if he were here. Just then she feels another tingle down below, and all of a sudden, wild thoughts about the toys and tools in her bedside table have her feeling overheated and a little reckless. She taps out a text and hits send before she can stop herself. 

_ —What do you think would do it for you? _

_ —What do you mean? _

She rolls her eyes at the response. How can someone who looks like that be so innocent about sexting? She slides her hand back inside her sweats and continues to text with one hand. 

_ —I mean, Ben, do you think I could “do it” for you? Do you think we could find a way to cure your boredom? _

_ —Oh. Oh! Okay. Yeah, I think so. Are you sure? _

Rey stills for a moment, afraid she has completely misread the situation and made a fool of herself.

_ —I mean. It’s no big deal. I thought it would be fun. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. Forget it.  _

_ —No! No it’s fine. I’m fine. Totally sounds fun. Yes. Okay.  _

She can imagine him getting all flustered and running his hand through his hair in that sexy way and feels better that even though they’re both nervous, at least they’re on the same page _. _

_ —What would you like me to do Ben? To cure your boredom? _

She holds her breath as the telltale typing dots appear and disappear a few times before his next text pops up. She releases the breath in relief as she reads what he’s sent, thankful that he’s willing to play the game. 

_ —First, I’d like you to be nice and comfortable. Slide your hands up and down over your breasts. Get nice and warmed up. _

Rey lets out a giggle at his text. She’s not sure she can take this seriously, but she’s already come this far. She whips off her tee-shirt as fast as she can and begins to follow his directions, typing out her response and praying he isn’t laughing at her. 

_ —My nipples are nice and hard in the cool air. My palms running up and down them are making them tighter and more sensitive. I’m imagining your hands on me. Do you like that? _

_ —Shit, yes I do. Slide your hands up and give them a squeeze. I remember those pretty little tits. Like perfect little apples. I’d love to taste the tips. Touch them for me, Rey.  _

Rey groans at his response. She remembers it too, the way he looked at her to ask permission before cupping them in his hands. She gently pinches a nipple, rolling it around and closing her eyes for just a moment to picture him taking it in his mouth. 

— _ Are you hard for me, Ben? _

_ —So hard. Can I take it out? _

_ —Yes. Touch yourself for me. Tell me what it feels like.  _

_ —You first, baby. _

_ Oh, really? He’s going to be bossy? _ Rey thinks. She dips her hand back into her pants and moans softly at the feel of her fingers gliding over her sensitive clit. 

_ —I’m wet. My clit is soft and swollen and oh it feels so good to touch it. _

_ —I’m imagining my tongue on you, Rey. Sliding over that wet clit and inside of you. You like that? _

_ — Yes, Ben. Oh god, I’d put my mouth all over your hard cock. Giving it kisses and licks and sucking hard until you beg me to let you come.  _

_ —I remember how it feels to have your mouth on my cock. Oh god, I’m so hard. It feels so good. _

_ —Stroke it, Ben. _

_ —I’m running my hand up and down my hard cock. It’s nothing like being inside of you, Rey. Feeling your soft cunt pulse around me when you come. I’ve never forgotten how you feel.  _

_ —Oh Ben, I’ve dreamed about your hard cock pounding into me. Fuck. It fls so goodd I’m sooo close. _

_ —Oh god. Slip your fingers inside, baby. Fuck yourself and think of me when you come. _

_ —Bennn I’ll comiG _

Her vision blurs for a moment and the phone slips out of her hand as the orgasm ripples through her. She flops back on her bed, panting a bit as it wanes. It was a much needed release after the build up of the last few days. But it wasn’t near enough and now that the flood gate is opened, she wants more. She imagines what Ben would think if he saw what she looked like right now. Then she realizes she has left him hanging. She scrambles for her phone and sees he’s responded to her.

_ —Me too. Rey? Are you ok? _

_ —OMG Ben, that was insanely hot and I can’t believe we did that. _

_ —Me neither. I really liked it though. I was afraid I’d make you uncomfortable. _

_ —Not at all. I’m sleepy now though LOL. _

_ —Then get some rest, sweetheart. I can’t wait to see you. Two more days. _

Warmth blooms in her chest as she reads the endearment and she cannot believe how lucky she is to have this gorgeous refrigerator of a man interested in her. She covers her face with her pillow and squeals her excitement into it before snuggling in to go to sleep, sending one last text before she turns out the light. 

_ —I can’t either. Goodnight Ben. _

_ —Sweet dreams, Rey. _


	7. Chapter 7

Tuesday evening finds Rey lying prone on her bed, playing a mindless game on her phone, and chatting with Ben over the speaker. Calling him up had seemed the natural thing to do after finishing dinner, showering, and preparing for bed. She admits that she wants his voice to be the last thing she hears tonight before she goes to sleep, even though she absolutely does not want to deal with whatever that means. 

Ben had sounded more than willing to talk to her as well, which fills her with the same giddy joy she felt ten years ago when he had stopped to speak to her at lunch that fateful day and set in motion a series of events leading to their own personal reunion less than twenty-four hours away. She tries very hard to put that out of her mind, though, as she matches colorful jewels and watches them zap off the screen while she bemoans her lousy day. 

“Oh, it can’t be all that bad,” he says playfully. “You are talking to me, after all.”

“Well, this is definitely the best part,” she answers, glad he can’t see her blushing. “But I swear. I thought yesterday was bad. Today was Monday’s evil twin.”

His low chuckle makes her smile—his sense of humor enough to pull her out of her grouchiness and laugh at her pitfalls of the day. 

“So what are your plans for tomorrow?” she asks, trying to be nonchalant and pretend she doesn’t want him to race up the interstate and straight into her bed.

“I talked to my mom about getting a hotel room, and she wouldn’t hear of it. She,” he snorts softly, and Rey is intrigued.

“What?”

“She’s uh - putting me up in the poolhouse,” he says, voice dipped low, just a hint of a teasing lilt to it.

Rey moans softly before she can stop herself, suddenly feeling her panties get wet just from the mention of the poolhouse. 

“What’s that, sweetheart?” He says, and Rey knows that he knows. She flushes and giggles nervously.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Are you sure?” His voice is deep and rich and smooth, and Rey would strip in front of him this very second if he were in the room. She’s aching for him, the result of nothing but a word and a memory. 

“I um.” She squirms a little before answering. “I remember that pool house fondly, is all.”

“Oh, me too. Absolutely.” 

She releases a shaky breath and tries to keep her voice from sounding too eager. “So, we're still on for six?”

“Yep. I’ll be right on time.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” After a pause, she adds, “I really should get some sleep.”

_ Because if things go my way, neither of us will be sleeping tomorrow night. _

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Bye Ben.”   
  


***

“Girl, I am so excited, and I’m not even getting laid tonight,” Rose quips, watching Rey cross-check her supplies with the list on the instruction sheet. Set out before them on the cold tile are a collection of bowls, spoons, packages of mix, a thermometer, measuring cup, scissors, a sharpie, and the penis rings. Rey wasn’t sure about the last items until she read that Ben would need to maintain a super hard erection for at least four or five minutes. She remembers googling how to use them and is embarrassed and flustered anew at the idea of sliding one onto him. 

“I am so nervous, Rose,” Rey says, worrying her thumbnail with her teeth. “What if he thinks I’m a freak and walks out? He seems so shy.”

“Shy? You showed me the filthy hot things he texted you. That boy ain’t shy.” Rose laughs at Rey’s worried expression. “And you’re not a freak. You’re adventurous. There’s a difference. I think he’s gonna enjoy it. Have fun. It’s supposed to be fun.”

“Thanks, Rosie”

“You’re very welcome.”

“Are you gonna be okay?”

“Sure, I am. Mom and Paige and I are gonna watch a movie, and I’ll crash there. I’ll have you know that I will be enduring my mom’s wedding input for you.”

Rey laughs heartily at that. Rose’s mother has been attempting to get Rose to agree to a traditional Vietnamese dress for her wedding, much to Rose’s chagrin. 

“I owe you one,” Rey reassures her. 

“You owe me details!” Rose winks, grabs her bag, and heads to the door, stopping to kiss Rey on the cheek. “Play it safe. Have fun. Call me if you need me.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too!”

Rey shuts the door behind Rose and walks to her bedroom to get ready. She looks at the gift bag sitting untouched on her dresser, considering the racy lingerie inside, and shakes her head. Part of her feels guilty for expecting Ben to shove his dick into the equivalent of a paper towel tube for her entertainment and not even reciprocating. Still, the other part of her, the insecure part, isn’t ready to parade around in what was tantamount to covering her nipples and vagina in butterfly stickers. Instead, she chooses a very respectable, not at all trashy, black bra and panty set. 

_ At least they match,  _ she thinks, shrugging at herself in the mirror. 

She slips on a pair of designer jeans and her favorite blouse, fixes her hair and makeup, and sits to wait. 

And wait. 

And wait. 

She avoids her phone, not wanting to text Ben and look too needy. It’s still only a few minutes before six. She gets up and goes to the kitchen, grabs the first bottle she can reach from the cabinet where she and Rose keep their liquor and pours herself a shot. She tosses it back and shivers as the burn travels down into her belly. She sets the bottle back down just as the doorbell rings, making her stomach churn the alcohol uncomfortably. 

Rey moves like a ghost floating slowly towards the door, her hands sweating, and pulls it open to see Ben standing at her door, a bouquet in his hand. She can feel the heat in her cheeks as she flushes with pleasure at the sight of him. 

“Hi,” he says—and he’s here. He’s finally here, and it’s been so long. Rey thinks he hasn’t changed much. He’s filled out a little more, maybe gotten a little taller, but it’s still the same charming boy she knew a long time ago. She takes the flowers he offers her and inhales their fragrance. 

“Hi yourself. Thank you for these. They’re lovely.”

“Did you-“

“Do you want-“

They laugh, and he gestures to her. “You go first.”

“Do you want to come in?”

Smiling down at her, he slips past her, and walks toward the center of the apartment’s open floor plan, turning around to take in his surroundings. Rey sets the bouquet on the counter and stands awkwardly, twisting her fingers together nervously. 

“It’s not much, but it’s home.”

“It’s great,” Ben says, turning to her and smiling so softly Rey feels like she could swoon. Swoon, like in a nineteen-forties black and white romance. She watches as he slowly walks towards her, his golden-brown eyes drifting up and down before settling on her eyes when he stops in front of her. He reaches out and takes her hands, gently coaxing them apart and bringing them up to his mouth, kissing her knuckles, one hand at a time, igniting a blaze inside her with the simple sweet gesture. 

“Are you nervous?”

“A little.”

“Why?”

She shakes her head and shrugs, “I don’t know. You’re here, and you look so good, and I’m so,” she gestures to herself, frustrated with the feelings of inadequacy that always overwhelm her whenever she confronts any type of intimacy. 

“Beautiful,” he finishes for her, tilting her chin up when she looks down at her feet. “You’ve always been beautiful. You did say I could kiss you, Rey. Is that still on the table?”

She shudders at the heat she sees in his eyes and the realization that this beautiful man does want her. She nods infinitesimally, and he moves his hands up to frame her face. 

He can hear her breath hitch as he leans toward her, watches her eyes flutter closed before his lips gently brush hers. His thumbs brush over her cheekbones, and he makes a soft noise of satisfaction at the feel of her smooth skin. 

Her arms creep slowly around his neck, and she tangles her fingers in the soft curls at his nape. Slanting her head, she opens her mouth just enough to invite him in. He takes the invitation with relish and dives into her mouth, deepening the kiss, sliding his tongue inside to taste her sweetness. 

They stay there for an eternity, one kiss sliding into another, deeper and deeper until they are breathless and frantically clutching at one another in an attempt to get closer. 

“I don’t think I’m very thirsty,” Rey murmurs against his lips. She moans as his tongue slides in and out in a languid stroke, reminding her of how his tongue felt between her legs. “Did you,” she tries to get out a complete sentence in between the constant pressure of his beautiful lips. “Still want.” A low rumble, almost a purr, erupts from her as his lips trail their way along her jaw. “To go out?”

Ben’s answering grunt sounds an awful lot like a no, and she giggles just a little at the tickle as he whispers his response in the soft spot just under her ear.

“Don’t want to go. Want to be here with you. Want you so badly.”

Rey takes his hand and leads him across the room to the squashy, worn-out couch that she and Rose have had since college. She moves the hand-knit afghan and the few mismatched throw pillows aside and pushes him gently down, situating herself in his lap, her legs on either side of his firm, muscular thighs. 

Ben is overwhelmed at the sight and the feel of her. She’s all heat and want and so very beautiful that he mentally kicks himself for leaving her without a trace and missing out on everything they could have done together. He is aching for her and makes an embarrassing mumble of something similar to her name that ends up as a grunt as she squirms on top of him. 

“Can I touch you?” he asks, reaching for the buttons on her blouse. She nods emphatically, watching his fingers fumble with the tiny buttons. When he finally spreads it open and looks at her, his hands lift to the soft, freckled swell of her breasts, pulling a moan from her moist lips. 

_ It’s now, or never, _ Rey thinks.  _ Don’t be a chicken.  _

“Ben,” she says and gasps as his tongue traces the edge of her bra, just grazing her skin. 

“Mmm?” 

“Are you nice and hard, Ben?” The breathy question and the sounds she's making do nothing to tame his straining erection. He thrusts his hips forward, letting his cock grind against her thigh and eliciting a soft whimper. 

“That hard enough for you, baby?”

“Yes,” she hisses, pressing forward to taste his kiss again. It’s the sweetest thing she’s ever tasted. She could get addicted to it, happily living in this moment on loop for eternity. Remembering her mission, she pulls back with a soft suck on his lower lip before she releases him and looks into his eyes, dark, nearly black, and wild for her. 

“Will you do something for me?” she asks, her voice husky with desire.

“Anything. You could get me to do anything for you right now,” he groans, burying his face in her neck, alternating between wet, open-mouthed kisses and soft licks of his tongue across her collarbones. 

“Come with me.”

She gets up and takes his hand, and he thinks he's died and gone to heaven, and heaven is Rey. Her lips, her breasts, her soft wet cunt waiting for him. He’s so blinded with lust he doesn’t realize she’s leading him to the kitchen and not a bedroom. Confusion wrinkles his brow, and he shakes his head a bit to clear the haze as he sees the collection of cookware on the counter. 

“Are — are we baking?” he asks, a hint of astonishment coating his words. She laughs softly and shakes her head in response, grinning in that way that makes her dimples stand out, and oh, he thinks maybe she wants to play with food. He can do that. It’s never been a huge thing for him, but if she wants him to eat something off of her or  _ out _ of her, he is definitely willing. 

“No. But I was hoping you could help me with a project.” 

Now he’s perplexed. Has he missed the mark completely? He doesn’t think so, considering the teasing, the texting, her response to him just now on the couch. What is he missing? 

He goes very still for a moment; his thoughts are spiraling out of control. Maybe it’s all just a joke. Some kind of revenge for leaving it as he did so long ago. Perhaps she doesn’t forgive him at all, and this is a setup to get him back. A cold sweat breaks out on his skin, and he begins to breathe a little more heavily, less from desire now—more from anxiety. 

“Rey, are you screwing with me? Is this a joke?”

“What? No,” she says. Her eyes are wide and guileless, and he relaxes a little. “Not at all. I got something that I thought would be fun for us to try.”

“Um, okay. Do you mind me asking what it is?”

He watches in amazement as she grabs a package with what looks like a very poorly drawn penis on the side and hands it to him.

“Clone-a-ding-a-ling?”

“Mhm.”

“Is this a —” he pauses, unsure how to complete the sentence. Rey moves closer to point at the description on the packaging. 

“It’s to make a dildo using you as the model.”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” she says, running her hand up over his chest and resting her palm on his heart. He knows she can feel it racing. “We could have double the fun.” Her eyebrow lifts, and she smirks. 

Ben is stunned. 

“D-double?”

“I’m game if you are.”

Of all the things that have given Ben Solo a surprise erection throughout his life, making a lifelike model of his cock was the last thing he expected to make him hard as a rock. But here he was, in Rey Niima’s kitchen, holding a kit that promised to “make a vibrating silicone replica of any penis,” and his cock was so hard it was making him dizzy. 

“Okay. Where do we start?” He looks over at the utensils on the counter and admits he’s mildly scared as well as horny.

“Are you really hairy?” she asks, and Jesus, she just jumps right into it, doesn’t she?

“I don’t think so? Define really.”

“Well, you don’t want any hair getting pulled so you can take this,” she says, offering up a pink, plastic razor with flowers on the handle, “or this.” The second offering is a large, economy-size tub of Vaseline. 

“I guess Vaseline?” he says, his voice rising into an immediate question. 

“Here, take this with you. Cover yourself with it and come back. I’ll get the water nice and hot.” She hands him the tub of petroleum jelly and points to a door Ben assumes is for the bathroom. 

“Hot? You’re going to submerge my dick in hot water?” The second thoughts, including all possible problematic outcomes, begin to worm their way into his brain, pushing the lust to the back burner.

“No. Not exactly.” She picks up the instructions and holds them in front of her, like an older man reading the Sunday paper. “It says here we have to have it ninety-eight degrees. That’s not even as hot as a shower. You’ll be fine. Go coat yourself in that,” she points to the petroleum jelly, “and then come back. But you have to stay hard to do it.”

“I have to stay hard while I put Vaseline on my dick?” Already he can feel things begin to abate as he imagines himself greasing up like a professional wrestler. 

“Well yeah. I mean, no, not exactly. Just when we, you know, stick it in.” She points to the tube on the counter.

“Are you sure about this? Have you ever done anything like this before?”

“Yeah. I mean, no, I haven’t. But, yeah, I’m sure. It’s fine. I read a lot of reviews. Just go, and I’ll get the temperature ready.”

Ben takes the tub of jelly and enters her bathroom, feeling like he is having an out of body experience. If she had told him yesterday that this was what she had planned, he would have laughed his ass off. He momentarily wonders  _ why _ she didn't tell him about it yesterday but chalks it up to her being really busy and the thought slipping her mind. He takes a deep breath and pulls off his shirt, shucks off his jeans, and slides his boxer briefs down his legs, kicking them to the side, his erection back in business at the idea of what she could do with two of  _ him _ . He hadn’t thought of it before, but now the idea of fucking her with his own cock in two places at once has him painfully hard once more. 

He scoops a generous dollop of jelly out of the tub and smears it up and down his length and pubic area, making sure to coat any hair he finds. He has to admit, the feel of it isn’t that bad. Once he’s finished, he wipes his hands off and clears his throat. 

“Uh, Rey?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you ready?”

“Yep. Come on out.”

Taking a deep breath, Ben psyches himself up to head back to Rey and their phallic arts and crafts session. Attempting some semblance of modesty, he grabs a thick, fluffy towel off the hook on the back of the door and wraps it around his waist. Before losing his nerve, he takes a hesitant step out, and then another until he has made it into the kitchen to see Rey, standing with a plastic tube, a sharpie, and what looks like black hair ties in her hands. She grins wickedly at him and crooks her finger, beckoning him towards her. 

“Let’s get this party started,” she says. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks to Brooke for being this fic’s number one fan. Xoxo

Rey finds a bit of confidence tonight in the bottle of cheap liquor she and Rose keep in the kitchen cabinet for those nights between paychecks when shit just isn’t going their way. It serves its purpose well. Her first shot before Ben arrived warmed her up a bit. She had been too nervous to eat anything during the day, so she felt a pleasant warmth consume her quickly, giving her the confidence to set this plan in motion. In retrospect, she realizes she shouldn’t have had the double (okay, maybe it was a triple) while he was greasing up in the bathroom, but hindsight is always 20/20. 

She sees him emerge from the bathroom. His massive, firm chest is bare, pale, and dotted with a smattering of moles she wants to catalog one by one. His hips are wrapped in a fluffy pink towel, tented slightly in front, giving away all his secrets. Rey bites back a giggle at the sight. 

This is really happening. 

She snatches the plastic molding tube and a sharpie and remembers to pick up the rings before she turns to Ben and grins. 

“Let’s get this party started,” she says, crooking her finger. She lets a giggle escape this time, hiccuping just at the end of the girlish sound when he reaches her, and she sets the tube and pen down, suddenly overcome with the urge to touch him. 

“In the spirit of good manners, do I have your consent to touch you, Ben Solo?” Another giggle-snort mutation bubbles up out of her, and she is thankful to see him react with a soft chuckle of his own. 

“That depends on where you’re going to touch me, Rey.”

She wiggles her eyebrows, feeling braver by the second. 

“Oh, you know. Just—everywhere.” She takes the penis rings, one in each hand, and twirls them around her fingers like she’s Wyatt Earp ready for action at the O.K. Corral, sending one of them flying across the kitchen. 

“Shit,” she says, rushing to get it without falling on her face. 

_Maybe that alcohol is stronger than I thought._

“Are those hair ties?” Ben asks as Rey stands straight up, swaying a bit and moving towards him slowly. 

“Nope. These babies are gonna keep you at attention like you’re in a military parade.”

“Rey, how much have you had to drink?”

“A bit,” she says with a tiny hiccup. “I’m fine, Ben. Come on. Let’s do this. Ready?

“I think so?”

“Okay. First, we need to,” Rey clears her throat, her voice dripping with seduction, “prep you for insertion.” She wiggles her eyebrows, licks her lips, and sets the rings down next to the rest of the materials. His breath hitches as she reaches out, trailing a fingertip down his clavicle past his chest to his navel. She lifts her hands to place them flat on his warm pectorals, her palms alive with the feel of his small, pink nipples tickling their centers. She looks up at him, sliding her hands slowly down his front over ridges of defined muscle until she reaches the towel around his hips, grasping it with her fingers at the same time he stops her.

His hands circle her wrists, and he stares into her eyes. A brief flash of vulnerability passes through their depths. The sound of their breathing is all that breaks the silence in the room as they stare at each other. Rey smiles slowly and brushes his hair off his forehead in a gesture so sweet and gentle it takes Ben by surprise. Without breaking eye contact, she leans forward and places a warm, wet kiss on his chest, right over his heart. He shudders and then relaxes slightly, releasing her hands. With a quick flick of her fingers, the towel is at their feet. 

Rey steps back to get a better look at the full package in front of her. 

“Hello stranger,” she murmurs, reaching up to palm her breasts and slide her fingers to the small plastic clasp just below, taking a breath to steady herself before unfastening it and letting the bra fall to the floor, all the while watching his pupils dilate with excitement. She unbuttons her jeans, hooks her thumbs into the waistband of her black panties, and pushes both down to the ground. She stands up, her inhibitions cast to the wind thanks to her altered state and the beautiful, equally naked man in front of her.

The chilly air in the apartment makes her break out in goose flesh, her nipples tightening and aching for his warmth. She can feel arousal slipping slowly between her thighs, her cunt clenching in anticipation and memory of his beautiful body. Grabbing the rings back from the counter, she extends her hand toward him, encouraging him to meet her halfway. He does, and she angles her hand just right so he slides into it, the hot, thick, slippery length of him gliding over her palm. They both groan, and he meets her mouth in a fierce kiss. His hands grasp her hips, thumbs rubbing soft circles on the soft flesh where they meet her thighs, all while similarly swirling his tongue inside her mouth. 

“I’m going to put these on you real quick, ok?” she whispers. Ben’s soft lips are gliding towards her breasts, his tongue slipping out in little flicks, tapping out his desire in a heated code across her chilled flesh. 

“Mhm,” he agrees just before his hot mouth fastens over a nipple, and she makes a high pitched whining sound, clutching his shoulder with one hand to keep from sinking to the floor. With her other hand, she slips the rings one at a time over his cock, meeting no resistance thanks to the generous amount of petroleum jelly coating his shaft, living for the sounds he’s making at her soft touch. He looks down between them, watching her hands wrap around him and sliding them on, and he looks at her, curious. 

“Why two?” 

“I don’t know. It came in a package of three, so I figured I’d split the difference. How does it feel?”

“Different. Not bad. Your touch feels amazing.”

“Mm,” she hums. “You feel excellent too. These are supposed to keep you that way for a while.” She gives him another gentle stroke, turning to begin her project, moaning at the surprise of him sweeping her hair to the side and placing a kiss on the back of her neck where it meets her shoulder. His cock presses hard, hot, and demanding against her backside, and he whispers against her skin, making her shiver in anticipation. 

“How long will this take?” He moves up and down a bit, needing to feel the soft skin of her ass on the tip of his cock. Every second feels like torture. It’s like he is swelling harder and faster than he ever has before. His need to be inside her pushes aside the underlying embarrassment of the very unconventional activity they are about to begin. If this is what she wants, he’ll give it to her. Nothing matters right now except Rey. Rey and her beautiful body, wet cunt, soft skin, hot lips—

She moans loudly, interrupting his thoughts, and gasps out a response. 

“About ten minutes. But if you keep doing that, it will be longer.”

He groans in frustration and pulls back to watch her after a final kiss to her shoulder. He marvels at the way her back curves at her hips and rounds into a perfect, firm backside, with dimples right above the swell, and briefly wonders if she’s ever had anyone inside her ass. If she’s adventurous enough to let him try one day.

He’s not surprised to be fantasizing about _one day._ He finds himself wanting to be around her, talk to her, allowed to breathe the same air as her for as long as she will let him. It has crossed his mind more than once in the past five days, especially after getting to know her. He wonders if she feels the same. For now, he settles for the fact that she does want him physically. It’s enough for now, but he’s aching to touch her, and his cock is throbbing. He dutifully keeps his hands to himself and watches and waits. 

“Okay. Measuring cup. Gotta get water and the thermometer. Mix then put penis in quick and hold it.”

Rey narrates her process, acknowledging in the back of her mind that she sounds like a pornographic Bob Ross leading an art class. 

She brings the Pyrex measuring cup and thermometer to the sink, turning the tap to hot, and waiting for it to warm up. Feeling loose and languid thanks to the liquor and Ben, she hums happily, swaying her hips from side to side and tossing instructions over her shoulder. 

“Go ahead and use the scissors and open the package and pour it in the bowl.”

“Which one?”

“The powder.”

Ben searches the supplies on the counter until he finds the package she wants and snips it open, all while his dick swings merrily from side to side, like a magnet, attracted to the movement of Rey’s ass. He pours the powder into the bowl on the counter and waits patiently for his next direction. 

Rey scurries back to Ben’s side, sloshing hot water onto the counter and cursing her clumsiness. She checks the water level, ensuring the amount is correct, and turns back to Ben. 

“Okay, I have to stir this. You have to count.”

“Count what?”

He steals a pinch to her ass cheek, laughing at her yelp. Rey smacks him with the wooden spoon she has picked up off the counter. 

“Pay attention! It has to stay hot,” she whines, pointing the spoon at him, looking adorably bossy, and Ben can’t help but step closer, praying she’ll take the edge off with a touch, a brush of her hip, something to cure the ache. 

“I’ll stay hot for you, baby,” he teases. 

“Ben! The water! I have to stir it for,” she checks the instructions, “forty-five seconds. So start counting. With hippopotamuses, so it’s not too fast.” She giggles at the absurdity of it, picturing a bevy of dancing hippos counting to forty-five. She wheezes with laughter, squeezing her eyes shut and scrunching her nose in amusement.

“Hippopotamuses. Got it.” Ben laughs and begins counting slowly as Rey stirs the hot water into the powder and starts humming. 

“Oh, no! The sharpie!” Rey shouts out of the blue, startling Ben in the middle of eleven hippopotamuses. “I forgot to measure it!”

“Why do you need to measure a sharpie?”

“Keep counting! I forgot to measure where to cut off the tube so you can fit it in. Here!” She hands the wooden spoon to Ben and rushes past him, brushing his cock and making his eyes roll back in his head in the process. “Stir! And keep counting.”

Rey picks up the tube and uncaps the pen, bracing herself on the counter as a wave of dizziness hits her. With a chuckle, she drops to the floor in front of him, holding the tube next to his erection to judge the size. 

“Oh. Okay.” She says and recaps the pen. 

“What?” He says brokenly, looking down at her and swallowing thickly at the sight of her on her knees in front of him. 

“I don’t have to trim anything,” she replies with a shrug. Ben has no clue what it means but figures he doesn’t want anything being trimmed around his junk when Rey is inebriated. 

“Okay then, what now?”

“We pour that into here and then slide it on. You ready?”

“I think so.”

She holds up the tube and wraps both hands around it, smirking at him. Carefully, he pours the warm sludge into the tube until it is all out of the bowl and sets it down. 

“Okay, quick! Put it in!”

She grabs the full tube with one hand and his cock with her other. 

“Gently! Fuck!” Ben hisses. His cock is nearly purple, leaking pre-cum, harder than it has ever been, and he is starting to feel desperate. 

“Sorry,” she pouts, pressing a soft kiss to the tip. This time it’s Ben’s turn to grasp the countertop, so he doesn’t fall over. “I have to be quick. Here it goes.”

She’s gentle, he admits, but it feels a little snug and not exactly good. All at once, he remembers Christmas, 2008, and the tight shoes his Nana Padme made him wear to church because his mother forgot to pack his good shoes for the vacation. It’s a bit uncomfortable if he’s honest, and he wonders how long he needs to stand here. 

“Hold it for two minutes,” she says as if reading his mind. “Can you keep it hard for that long, or should I help?”

Trying to ignore the uncomfortable squeeze as the material hardens around him, he grins at her invitation. 

“I’m not gonna turn down any help, that’s for sure.”

“Hmm,” she says. “Hang on.”

Rey steps over to a door and opens it, dragging a step stool out and over to the counter. Stepping up, she turns around and plants herself down on the counter in front of him, spreading her thighs wide, running her hands up and down her torso a couple of times before grasping her breasts and rubbing her fingers over both nipples, sighing at the tingles it’s sending to her core.

She knows she’s going to have to disinfect the kitchen before Rose comes back, but right now, she doesn’t care that she’s making an obscene mess on the same surface she uses to makes her grandpa’s rye bread. Ignoring that thought, she brings her hand to her mouth and draws her middle finger into it, looking Ben straight in the eye, watching him breathe heavily as she sucks her finger. His attention flicks back and forth between her mouth and her cunt, and his nostrils flare as if he can smell her and wants to savor the bouquet. She pulls her finger out of her mouth with a wet smack and slides it through her damp folds, teasing her clit. It all happens so fast, Ben is dazed and misses her question. 

“W—what?”

“I said how many seconds,” she says breathlessly, furiously working herself over with a steady determination, “is in two minutes?”

“One hundred twenty,” Ben pants, thankful that the ability to calculate quickly—while aroused no less—is a useful result of that math degree. 

“Count,” she moans, and Jesus Christ, he’s never seen anything so hot in his life. No porn he’s ever clandestinely streamed on his phone all alone in his room at night has ever come close to the sight of Rey, fingering herself on her kitchen counter right in front of him, her cunt dripping wet, head thrown back and moaning wildly. 

“You like that, Ben?” she gasps, and he can’t form a response other than an affirmative grunt. She’s reduced him to a caveman in the space of an hour. He’s never been more turned on. 

“Wanna watch me come? Knowing it’s not enough? Knowing that I’m aching for you to be inside me?” Rey is really pulling out all the stops, determined to keep him hard through this process by saying things she’s never said out loud to anyone before in her life. It’s kind of freeing in a way while simultaneously being the most terrifying this she’s ever done. She can feel her orgasm building—feels his eyes on her watching her get closer and closer—and it’s thrilling. 

_How much time is left before he can fuck me,_ she thinks before the tension snaps, and she comes with a garbled cry of, “Keep counting!”

Ben has no idea how long she’s been sitting on the counter, splayed before him, getting herself off to keep him hard. He was supposed to be counting, but he’s somehow forgotten how to count. All he knows is that however long that was, it wasn’t long enough. 

“Holy shit, Rey. You’re fucking incredible!”

“How,” she gasps, her eyes drifting open and a lazy smile on her face. “How long was that?”

He has no idea but figures it had to have been at least two minutes. 

“Time is up. Let’s get this off. And then let’s get you off again. That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Rey slides down onto the stepstool from her perch on the cold tile, stopping on the step at Ben’s eye level to press a slow, languid kiss to his lips before speaking again. 

“Go ahead and slide it off and let’s get you cleaned up,” she purrs. 

Ben gently tugs at the contraption, expecting the Vaseline to have lubed it up enough to slide off, and is surprised when it doesn’t budge. He tries again, marginally harder, not wanting to tug his dick like a parachute’s ripcord, and begins to panic when it won’t come off.

“Rey, it’s stuck.” 

“What?”

“The tube thing. It’s stuck.” He tries another valiant tug, grunting at the discomfort. “Oof. Nope. What am I doing wrong? Check the instructions.”

Rey is a bit dazed and confused, watching Ben try and pull the mold off. She’s pretty sure you just slip it off. Looking back at the paperwork confirms it.

“You just slide it out.”

“Rey.” Ben’s voice has a bit of an edge to it now. “It’s not sliding out. Are you sure we did this right?”

Rey looks up at Ben, annoyed at his tone. Did he think she couldn’t read or comprehend simple instructions?

“Yes, Ben. I, too, have a college degree, you know.”

“No need for you to get snippy. You’re not the one with your cock stuck in cement.”

She rolls her eyes at his dramatic behavior. “It’s not cement. It’s the stuff they use on those special effects shows, for masks and things. And it says right here,” she taps forcefully on the printed instruction sheet, “ _once the gel has hardened, gently remove your penis from the container._ So just gently remove it.”

“If I were any more gentle, I wouldn’t _be_ moving,” Ben snaps. 

“Well, can’t you just think of something to make it, you know,” she waves her arm around, her hand flopping at the wrist, “make it deflate?”

“Make it deflate? Are you serious?” He shakes his head before he notices the rings around the base of his cock. “Oh, maybe it’s these things. But I can’t,” he grumbles, fingers fumbling, not finishing his thought.

“Can’t what?” Rey comes closer, and Ben notices that she’s put her underwear back on, her blouse hanging unbuttoned over the top. For some reason, he is disappointed at that, even as he tries to figure out how to free himself from this torture device of his own making. 

“I can’t get them off. Can you help me?”

“Yeah, what turns men off? Feminism! Commitment! Foreign films with captions!”

He glares at her, not sure if she’s serious, it’s the alcohol, or if she’s teasing, but he’s long past any joking mood. 

“I meant physically help me.” 

“Oh,” she says quietly.

Even after all that she has done in the last hour, up to and including the exhibition on the kitchen counter, Rey feels bashful at the thought of reaching down to pull the rings off of him. She can feel her face heat up with a blush that spreads down her neck. Her hands tremble as she moves to touch him, trying not to laugh. She is just about to declare victory when she realizes she can’t get her finger under the ring. 

“Uh, oh.”

“No, uh, oh. What uh oh? Don’t say that.”

“I can’t get under them.”

“What? What do you mean.”

She examines him closely, sliding her finger around the base, trying to slip her finger under the ring, to no avail. Her silence only amps his anxiety to new levels, and he hisses as she continues to run her finger along his overstimulated penis.

“Can you stop that?”

“Stop what?”

“Stop touching me. It’s getting painful.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, Ben. Let me see if I can get something smaller to slip under the rings.” She stumbles a bit as she stands, intending to head to her room when Ben grabs her by the arm. 

“Oh no, you don’t. You’re not slipping anything under, on, or around me. I need professionals.”

Rey has no idea what he’s talking about. 

“Professional what?”

“Rey, get it together. I need a doctor.”

Rey freezes, horrified at the idea of being a punchline to some doctor’s joke over a holiday table. This is not going the way she thought it would. She sinks to the floor, burying her face in her hands. It’s all her fault. He’s going to have to have them take surgical tools to that beautiful penis, and it’s all her fault. She can’t stop the hot tears of guilt from spilling over her cheeks. She looks back up at him, wiping her nose on her blouse.

“Ben, I can’t take you to the hospital. I’ve been drinking. A lot.” She sobs loudly, and a fresh surge of tears fall in rivulets down her pretty face. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I just thought it would be fun, and now you’re going to go away, and it’s all I’ll have left.” 

“Rey, what are you talking about? Just let me get my phone. Fuck.”

She watches him hobble into the bathroom, clearly uncomfortable any time the tube, now heavier because of the modeling compound, is jostled, putting more pressure on his member. Sniffling, she starts to button up her blouse with shaky hands, wondering who Ben will call to get him out of this mess and wondering if he will ever call her again. She hears him talking on the phone and holds her breath, trying to listen to what he’s saying. It only becomes apparent when he comes back into the living room, his shirt is back on, and another towel is covering his front, supporting the injured appendage. 

“Yeah, I’ll text you the address so you can put it in GPS. I’m sorry to have to bother you guys with this. Yeah. Yeah, ok. I have a pair of sweats in my suitcase.”

_His suitcase?! Oh no. No, no, no._

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit. Thanks, mom.”

Rey chokes on her horror at the sound of that one word.

_Mom?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: I’ve never used one of these kits before and have no idea if you can get stuck inside it. I didn’t see any reviews that talked about getting stuck, but for some semblance of plot, conflict was needed 🤣


	9. Chapter 9

“Rey, please stop crying. Everything will be fine.” 

Rey has dressed again in the clothes she had picked out for their date, looking ridiculously out of place scrubbing the kitchen counter in designer jeans, silk blouse, and green rubber kitchen gloves. She sprinkles Ajax powder on the cold tile she had been sitting on less than thirty minutes earlier and attacks it with a sponge, like a slutty Lady Macbeth. Tears ooze slowly and quietly down her face. The only thing giving her away is the occasional sniffle and watery sob. 

She glances over at Ben when he speaks, sitting patiently on her sofa, shirt on, naked from the waist down, and covered with a fleece throw pulled haphazardly from the linen closet. It was an older one she had purchased at an after-Christmas sale. The delightful gnome on the blanket always cheered her up after a rough day. Now she can’t bear to look at it as the tube imprisoning Ben’s erect penis juts out under its cotton confines—her cute gnome is now a disturbing Pinocchio, convincing her that everything Ben is trying to tell her is a lie. 

“I’m so sorry, Ben,” she utters for at least the hundredth time since he hung up with his mother. At this point, he can only shrug, knowing she is just too upset to be able to deal with any reassurance on his part. He heaves a loud audible sigh, leaning back to let his head rest on the back of the couch. This only makes her tears stream harder, and her shoulders shake as she gears up for another meltdown. 

“I broke your dick!” she wails. 

“Rey, you didn’t break anything. We just can’t get it off. I’m sure when we get to the hospital, it will be fine.” His stomach gives an uneasy lurch at the uncertainty of the statement. 

“I forced you to do it. I’m some kind of evil predator.”

“Rey, you have to relax, or you’re going to make yourself sick,” Ben says. He is trying to keep it together but is becoming increasingly annoyed at having to reassure Rey when it’s _his_ dick rubber banded like a Sunday paper and shoved in what is the equivalent of a pneumatic tube. 

Just then, a knock at the door startles them both. Rey reacts with a squeak, dropping the sponge to the counter. She begins to pace back and forth in the confined space, muttering to herself and glancing at the door in fear. 

The knocking comes again, louder this time, and Ben is too aggravated to hold back. 

“Rey!” he snaps. 

“Mhm?” She turns back to him, eyes wide, pulling off the rubber gloves, and looking like a guilty child caught cheating on an exam. 

“Answer the door!”

She sulks and shuffles to the door, squaring her shoulders before pulling it open and beaming a bright smile. 

“Hello!” she sings out in a slightly hysterical singsong voice. The petite woman in her doorway raises her eyebrows in amusement before shaking her head. 

“Rey Niima, I presume?”

“Welcome to my home,” Rey says, sweeping her arm out in a grand gesture. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Solo.”

Ben has to give Rey credit for being able to switch on the charm so quickly despite her obvious discomfort. There were no tips available on how to meet your date’s mother after getting him to agree to immortalize his dick, slapping not one but two cock rings on him, and giving him an erection that measured up to the cautionary tales in viagra commercials. 

Leia snorts a small laugh in response to Rey’s welcome, shaking her head again and turning to Ben. 

“You said it was serious, Ben. What’s going on? Your dad and I were just getting to final Jeopardy. I brought your sweats like you asked. Did something happen to your pants?”

“No, mom. I need you to take me to the hospital. Rey’s been drinking and can’t.”

Leia turns quickly to look at Rey and back to Ben again. 

“Hospital? What is it? What happened? Are you hurt? Where are your pants?”

“Mom, I don’t know how to explain it, but I think we should go.” 

“Ben, what is going on? Why are you acting so mysterious?”

“I’m not. We just need to go now, please.”

“Well here, go put these on,” she orders, thrusting the grey sweatpants at him. It’s only when he doesn’t reach for him that she realizes he hasn’t attempted to stand up, and there is a suspicious tent in the blanket on his lap. 

“I can’t right now,” he mutters. “They’re for later.” 

“I—I don’t understand.”

Rey, who has been extremely quiet through the mother-son exchange, chooses this moment to help Ben explain the situation. 

“His penis got stuck in a tube, and it won’t fit in his pants, and I can’t take him to get it off because I’m an idiot who had four drinks and can’t drive.” It all comes out in a rush, and Ben and Leia both gape at Rey. “Sorry about final Jeopardy,” she tacks on at the end. 

“Ben,” Leia starts, turning back to her son, a look of utter shock spreading over her face, “w—what is she—?” She stops mid-sentence, finally registering the blanket over Ben’s lap, his hands folded gently over the distorted gnome, and gasps. 

“Holy shit.”

She pulls herself together and kicks into mom mode, hustles over to him, shoves the grey sweatpants in his face, and motions for him to stand. 

“Okay, we probably should move quickly. Why didn’t you say anything on the phone? I would have been here sooner! I stopped for a milkshake, for God’s sake! Here, just wrap that blanket around you. Yeah, like that.”

She finishes wrapping him up and swings her arm wide. 

“After you, Romeo. Hold it together in the back,” she says, pulling his arm to his rear and shoving the blanket ends into his grip. Rey watches him walk carefully towards the door, his legs spread wide and his free arm clutching the sweatpants while cradling his dick like a precious baby. She is weirdly reminded at that moment of her grandfather’s love for John Wayne movies. A hysterical giggle bubbles up, and she slaps her hand over her mouth as Leia shoots her a disbelieving look. 

“You know, Ben,” Leia begins, her tone laced with what could only be described as sarcastic disappointment, “when I told you that your father and I wanted to see more of you, this isn’t what we had in mind.”

“Fuck, mom. Could we not?” Ben sounds tired and embarrassed, naturally, and Rey sinks to a new low of guilt. Her eyes fill with tears again, and she swipes at her cheeks while searching around for her purse. 

“Just let me get my coat and stuff,” Rey says, her voice wavering. Leia stops behind Ben and turns toward Rey. 

“Oh shit,” she says, turning back and looking at Ben. “I didn’t think. Ben, I brought your dad’s car.” Ben nods in understanding and turns back around, peering cautiously down the halls to ensure some semblance of privacy. Rey only stands dumbly in the doorway, not understanding how car ownership fits in the equation. 

“It was blocking my car in the driveway,” Leia explains to Rey as if that could somehow clear up why they aren’t all walking out to the car together right now. Rey just stares at Leia, hoping for more information, as it becomes more apparent that she’s going to be left behind. 

“So, I just took his car,” Leia continues. “You see, it’s a two-seater. It’s an old piece of junk. It _had_ a front and a back seat, but he likes to refurbish cars and tore out the back seat of this one because he and Ben are so tall, so there's no room for them. And now you. No backseat.” She spreads her empty hands wide in an apologetic gesture as if she forgot to bring a bottle of wine to a dinner party. “There’s just no room.”

 _“No room, no room”_ keeps echoing on a loop in Rey’s head, and she knows this has to all be a dream. She’s in some twisted mad tea party in the middle of Wonderland, but she’ll wake soon and be ready to start the day all over, knowing what she knows now about cock rings, erections, and plastic tubing. 

“I—okay,” Rey stutters, not sure what to do when Leia turns on her heel and rushes out the door, throwing a parting comment over her shoulder. 

“Nice to meet you!”

Stunned, deflated, and depressed, Rey shuts the door behind Ben’s mother and walks robotically into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she takes out a cookie dough tube and uses the scissors on the counter to snip off the end. She slowly slides down the side of the cabinet to the floor and takes a bite directly from the package, not caring if she gets sick. She deserves to get sick; she deserves whatever happens to her for her part in breaking Ben’s dick. She looks at the cold cylinder in her hand, her fingers wrapped around it, barely able to touch because of its girth. This visual reminder of Ben’s captive member tips her over the edge, and she gives up and lets the tears flow. 

* * *

“Good god, mom, could you have picked a bumpier road?” Ben growls at his mother as they seem to fly down the street, hitting every pothole, rock, and bump that has ever existed down this stretch of road. 

“No, no, no, see, I don’t deserve that because I’m not the one who chose to shove my dick in a tube. I’m driving as carefully as I can as quickly as I can,” Leia chastises Ben while keeping her eyes on the road. She hazards a glance at the layers of fabric covering his lap and shakes her head in bewilderment. “What the hell were you two doing anyway? Do I even wanna know?”

Sighing loudly, Ben shifts uncomfortably in his seat, keeping his face turned away from her curious side-eye. “It’s a long story and not exactly one I want to explain to my mother.”

“I’m not one to judge, you know. If you want to have freaky sex stuff, then go right ahead. But shouldn’t you have had something like a safe word or something like that?”

“Mother.”

“What? I read, Ben. I know what you kids do, and it’s not like your father and I are innocents.”

“Mother, please.”

“I mean, this car used to have a backseat. I’m pretty sure you were conceived right there,” she says, pointing to the very seat he is currently occupying. 

“Jesus Fucking Christ, mom, please stop! I’m begging you!”

“Language, Ben! Jeez.”

Leia closes her mouth, her lips pressing together in a thin line. She eases up on the gas pedal and attempts to drive more carefully to spare Ben any unnecessary discomfort. 

“So what’s the story with this girl? She seems familiar.”

“I went to prom with her. Rey, from high school.”

“ _That’s_ her? Well, the years have been good. She’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah,” Ben says wistfully.

“You like her?”

“Don’t want to talk about it.”

“You living far away from each other is kind of a cock-up, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

“I will not. Please stop with the dick—“

“Don’t talk like that in front of your mother,” she warns. Her voice is teasing, and she gives him a wink.

Ben leans back against the headrest and closes his eyes, formulating what he wants to say before speaking. 

“I do like her—a lot. I always have. And yes, living so far away sucks because I just want to spend time with her. Tonight—well, it didn’t exactly go according to plan.” He trails off when he sees them closing in on the lights of the hospital emergency room.

“Clearly,” Leia responds dryly. 

As they pull into the parking lot, Leia attempts a gentle roll over the speed bumps, easing into a spot and putting on the brake. She turns to Ben, and he can see the sparkle in her chocolate brown eyes and mischief in the quirk of her smile. 

“Well, if _you_ like her, I like her. I won’t say any more about it, and I won’t tell your father.”

Ben sags in his seat, not realizing the idea of Han knowing what he was up to would make him as tense as he is. “Thank you—“

“Not so fast,” she says while holding up a manicured, apple-red polished finger. “I won’t tell your father _if_ you consider looking into that math teacher position at the high school that we talked about.”

“That’s extortion,” Ben grumbles. 

“No, that’s blackmail,” she counters. “There’s a difference. You look into it, and dad won’t hear a peep about any of this from me.” Leia mimes locking her lips and throwing away the key. Then her eyes soften, and she grows serious. “We’ve missed you so much, son. It would mean the world to us if you would come home and give us another chance. Just think about it, okay?”

Ben nods and rolls his eyes. “Okay. Now can we please go in?”

“Lead the way, cowboy.”

* * *

It’s seven am when Rose returns home, assuming, _hoping_ , she thinks, Ben and Rey have migrated to Rey’s bedroom and aren’t sprawled all over the communal furniture, spreading bodily fluids on shared spaces. She is just about to fit her key into the lock when her toe bumps against something on the floor. A small brown paper gift bag with raffia handles sits in front of the door like an offering. No note, name tag, or other identifying marks are anywhere to be found outside, causing Rose to nudge it suspiciously, followed by looking to her left and right down the well-lit hallway. Seeing nothing, she peers into the bag and nearly guffaws at the item inside, slapping her hand over her mouth so as not to disturb the elderly neighbors across the hall. 

Nothing could have prepared her for this gift placed in front of her door. Only now, Rose is curious. Why would it be out here? What had they gotten up to? When could she find out all the dirty details? She picks up the bag and turns the key in the lock, nearly screaming at the sight that awaits her when she opens the door. Purse, keys, and paper bag all fall to the floor with a clatter as she drops them and rushes to the aid of her best friend, lying in a heap in front of the refrigerator. 

“Rey, oh my god, Rey. Are you okay? Are you breathing? Did he hurt you? I’ll fucking cut him. Oh god, Rey?” She shoves two fingers up under Rey’s chin, checking for a pulse, and is frantically patting Rey’s body to check for injuries when she hears a moan. 

“Stop. Rose quit. I’m fine.”

“Rey, what the hell are you doing on the kitchen floor?” She notices the half-eaten tube of cookie dough, way past room temperature, becoming a mushy heap on the floor, and looks up at Rey. “What the hell happened? Where’s Ben?”

Rey pulls herself up to a seated position, rubbing her hands across her face and removing the pieces of hair plastered to it with hours’ worth of drool. 

“He left. I had to stay,” she says, flatly—her face is devoid of emotion, and she just stares into space. Rose hasn’t seen her this dramatic since the Game of Thrones finale. She frowns and waves her hand in front of Rey’s face to get her attention, satisfied when Rey focuses on her. 

“What happened?” Rose asks again, standing and offering her hand to Rey, who takes it and stands up, following Rose’s lead to the living room. Rose stops short when she sees the paper bag and picks it up, eying Rey speculatively. Something is wrong. She places it in Rey’s lap and gestures lamely. 

“Someone left this. I’m guessing it’s for you.”

Rey looks into the bag, and immediately her chin begins to quiver, her hands shake, and she begins to laugh nervously. 

_The broken dick. They left the broken dick at my door._

“Hey, calm down. What’s wrong?”

Rose grabs the bag and pulls out the empty mold, formed and ready for the next step in the dildo making assembly line. Rey looks at it and shudders. She looks back in the bag and sees a notecard at the bottom. When she fishes it out, she realizes it’s a note written for her in a perfectly slanted script. 

_Rey,_

_Ben thought you might need this back. He told me to tell you he’ll call you._

_Best,_

_Leia S._

Rey’s mortified groan at this note is something Rose will remember for years to come. She takes it from Rey gently and reads it—surprise followed by confusion playing across her face. 

“I am so confused.”

“Oh god,” Rey says, attempting to smother herself with a pillow. “M’gonna die...embarrass.”

“What?” Rose tugs the pillow away from Rey’s face and raises her eyebrows. 

“I am going. To die. Of embarrassment.” Rey snaps, putting the pillow back over her face. 

“Wanna tell me what went wrong?”

“How much time do we have?”

Rose checks the clock over the stove. “About two hours before work starts.”

“Ugh. Go put on some coffee. We’re gonna need it.”

* * *

“I have never been so horrified, amused, and baffled at the same time,” Rose says, wiping the tears from her eyes. Rey is _not_ as amused with the situation and sits slumped with her chin perched on her palm, feeling sorry for herself. 

“Yeah, well, you bullied me into it, so you should be more apologetic,” Rey huffs, taking another sip of coffee and raising her eyebrows at Rose over the mug for emphasis. 

“Bullied?! Girl, I supported you in your crazy endeavors!”

“It was your idea to start with! I would never have even thought about doing something so freaky if it wasn’t for you and your website with its pervy toys and—“

“Hold up. Don’t kink-shame me, Rey,” Rose’s eyes flash with anger while she and Rey stare each other down. Rey gives in first, and she collapses into her folded arms on the worn tabletop. Rose’s features soften and she shakes her head, reaching out to stroke Rey’s hair. 

“I really was trying to help. I thought it would be fun for you guys. And you’ve been so lonely, Rey. I only want you to be happy. I guess I can be aggressive about stuff.”

“You’re like living with the love child of Spongebob _and_ Squidward,” Rey groans. 

“I choose to only find the good in that,” Rose retorts, raising her chin regally. 

Rey laughs involuntarily and heaves a sigh. “I’m sorry. I know you mean well. I guess I just got carried away. I’m so bad at all this. It’s not your fault. I’m a grown-up—sort of.”

“Ha! So now what? Do you think he’ll call?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I wouldn’t if I were him. Maybe it’s better this way. All I know is that I don’t want to see that thing again,” she says, gesturing with her chin at the root cause of her trouble. “Can you get rid of it for me?”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I think I’ll stick to something more my speed.”

Rose chuckles and nods in agreement. She looks up to check the time and gets up from the table. “We’d better get going. Want me to wait for you? I need to go in a bit early, but I can—”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll be okay. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Pick up some yellow curry and those spring rolls with the peanut sauce. We’ll watch Grease and snuggle under the gnome blanket.”

“Oh, god, I forgot about the gnome blanket.”

“What happened to the—?” Rose stops herself and shakes her head. “Nah. Nope. You know what, I think I’m okay with not knowing.”

Rey silently nods in agreement before turning around and heading to her room to get ready for work. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta [brooke](https://twitter.com/reyloaddict?s=21)
> 
> and to  
> [allison](https://twitter.com/alantieislander?s=21) For the commissioned moodboard. 
> 
> Happy reading!

Rey thinks about what Rose said before work, about being lonely. 

She’s right. Rey has worked her life up into a routine: get up, go to work, come home, go to bed. Like a hamster spinning a wheel, she just runs and runs with no end in sight. She can admit she does it as a distraction to keep her mind off the fact that she has nobody to share anything with. What she doesn’t want to recognize is that she’s just been waiting for something, or someone, to come and pull her out of this rut. 

She tells Rose it’s her choice to be strong and independent, making her own money and living her life on her terms, choosing who she lets in. After the debacle that was her early childhood, she can’t imagine anyone could blame her. Her parents dying when she was a baby, leaving her alone and helpless, hardened her in a way that no child should have to experience. 

Her life before middle school was a game of follow the bouncing Rey. From foster home to foster home, each time adding a layer to the shell she formed around her heart. Nobody ever really wanted her for long, so she stopped hoping—it was just too painful. She lost the ability to trust in anyone until the long-lost relative of her dreams, her grandfather, was found, and she was able to settle with him in Alderaan. If it hadn’t been for him and Rose with her aggressive friendship, who knew where Rey would be? She shudders to think of the possibilities. 

Even with her history and her current monotonous existence, Rey tells herself she doesn't need anyone to come and rescue her. Isn't that what society says? Strong women don’t _need_ love and romance to be happy? And they damn well shouldn’t want it if they’re going to be successful. She has her grandfather; she has Rose. There’s no need for anything else, right?

So why does she want it so badly? Why did Ben have to pop up and throw her life into a state of entropy? And why couldn’t she have just gone with him on a regular date?

It doesn’t help that he’s all she can think of when her mind starts to wander from her tasks. His thoughtful gestures bring a smile to her face, a sharp contrast to his naughty streak, which makes her blush in the light of day. His dimples, his wavy hair, the way he kisses, how it felt to hold his thick, hard—

“Ugh,” she groans, dropping her head to her desk with a thunk. 

She goes through the motions at work, willing herself to stop thinking of Ben and not check her phone like a madwoman for a text from him. She refuses to text him herself. She admits that she shouldn’t have gone overboard about Ben, for all her loneliness and craving for domesticity, knowing from the start that it wouldn’t work out. Long-distance relationships never do. So instead, she tries to distract herself with mundane tasks she’s had on the back burner, telling herself there’s no time like the present to bury herself in her work. A quick break and a short lunch, and she works straight through the afternoon, only stopping when the custodian stops to empty her trash can. 

“Miss Niima?”

Rey jumps, startled at his presence, and looks around to see the office nearly deserted and the sky outside bleeding orange on its way to dusk. 

“Oh my god, Art, you scared me. What time is it?”

The stocky man chuckles and adjusts his wire-rimmed glasses, leaning on his cleaning cart. 

“It’s around 6:45. Why are you here so late?”

“Just lost track of time. I guess I should go. Good night.”

“Night, Miss Niima.”

Rey digs in her desk to find her phone shoved to the back of the drawer behind a stack of post-its, a stray gum wrapper, and, ironically, an unused stress ball she forgot even existed. She grabs her purse and jacket and heads out of the building, stopping to check her messages. A slew of texts from Rose, along with a missed call from her, two texts, and a missed call from Ben, await her attention. Her heart starts to pound as she shakily unlocks the phone, unsure of what to expect. Part of her hopes he just ripped the bandaid off and told her straight out that he never wants to see her again. 

She’s not a hundred percent sure she can look him in the eyes, especially after he had his mother drop off the dildo mold at her door like some kind of horny Postmates. 

Opening up her messages, she sees the first text from Ben, sent right after lunch. 

_—Hi, Rey. I was hoping we could talk about some things. Can I come by this evening? Around 6? B_

Shit shit shit! Rey looks at the time and sees it’s nearly seven. Her stomach flops as she reads his next text to her, sent after his missed call around 6:15. 

_—Okay. I get it. I can take a hint. Not sure what else to say. Take care of yourself, Rey._

“No!” Rey yelps, causing the couple walking past her to jump a bit and move away from her warily. She knows deep down, him not wanting to see her again is probably for the best, but it hurts that it happened this way and that she didn’t just have the guts to call him. She doesn’t bother to call him back—not sure she can handle hearing his deep, soothing voice breaking things off with her. 

She waits until she’s sitting in her car before checking the texts from Rose. 

_—Rey, Ben messaged me, asking if you were okay. What’s going on?_

_—Rey, where the hell are you? Ben is here! He wants to see you!!_

_—If you’re dead somewhere, I’m gonna kill you._

_—Answer your phone! He left all sad and depressed, you dope! Ugh, you are such a pain in my ass. He left you something. Come home! I’m calling the cops if you don't, I swear to god!_

Frantically, Rey goes to her voicemail and listens to Rose, rolling her eyes at her best friend’s maniacal stage whisper. 

“Rey, I don’t know why you aren’t picking up but Jesus Christ! Ben is here, and he wants to see you! He seems fine. He is not walking funny—no cast on his junk. Come home! Call me. Bye.”

 _This has been the weirdest fucking week of my life,_ Rey thinks as she dials Rose’s number and waits. Rose picks up on the first ring. 

“Calling from the ER is the only acceptable excuse right now, Niima.”

“I’m fine. Calm down. I had my phone on silent and lost track of time. I’m on my way home now. What—um,” Rey stammers before she clears her throat and tries again. “What did he say?”

“He just asked if you were okay. Said he wanted to talk and couldn’t get a hold of you. Then he checked his phone and left all sad. He left you something though and said he hopes to see you tomorrow.”

Hope bloomed in Rey’s chest, and she tamped it down with a firm internal _No!_ as if it were a disobedient pet. She needed to let him go before he let her go. It was too messy. 

“Tomorrow?” she asked. “What’s tomorrow?”

“The reunion, Rey. Have you forgotten?”

“I guess I did. I don’t know why. It’s not like I’ve had any traumatic experiences lately,” Rey snaps. “I need to drive. I’ll see you in a minute.”

“Don’t forget dinner!” Rose manages to get in before Rey ends the call with a grunt. 

An hour later, Rey enters the apartment, tired, cranky, and hungry. She walks into the kitchen to set their Thai food down on the counter and spies Rose, prepping something she can’t quite see. Aggravated that the restaurant took so long and that Rose couldn’t seem to wait for her, she plunks the bag down with an offended sniff and peers over Rose’s shoulder. 

“You couldn’t just wait? What are you cooking?”

“Nothing,” Rose says, not looking back at Rey, continuing to stir whatever it is she’s mixing, angling her body to hide her work from Rey. 

“Then, what are you doing?” Rey asks, trying harder to look around Rose, who just keeps moving to block her view. 

“Hmm?” Rose hums, clearly being secretive and only ramping up Rey’s annoyance. 

“Rose! What are you hiding from me?”

Rose lifts whatever she’s mixed in the large Pyrex measuring cup and begins to pour it into what looks to Rey like plastic tubing. She sucks in air through her teeth with realization as Rose turns around with a dimpled grin on her face, not even trying to look ashamed of her behavior. 

“Why?!” Rey shouts, looking at the offensive dildo mold Rose is holding. She’s poured the silicone mix into the tube, and the look on her face reminds Rey of an old black and white Frankenstein movie. She half expects Rose to throw her head back and shout, “It’s alive! ALIVE!” like the eponymous doctor. 

“For science!” Rose replies without missing a beat. 

“I genuinely think you live to torture me, Tico!”

“Rey, this shit was fifty bucks. You’re not gonna waste it. Besides, I’m curious. I have to see what it looks like.” 

“No, you most certainly do not!” she shouts, snatching it from Rose and marching into her bedroom. She sets it gingerly on her dresser, next to the vase of flowers Ben had brought her the night before. She showers, changes into her pajamas, and pads back into the kitchen to see Rose has plated their food and has set a small bag next to Rey’s dinner. 

“What’s that?” Rey asks, eying the package suspiciously. Knowing Rose, it could be another sketchy sex toy ready to ruin her life.

“I told you. Ben left you something.” 

Rey peeks in the bag and pulls out the thin, plastic box inside with a soft, “Ahh.”

“What is it?” Rose asks.

Rey blushes and shakes her head at the gift. The hope that bloomed in her chest is back, and she’s not sure if she still wants to push it down. 

“It’s a pink orchid,” she says quietly, a small smile playing on her lips. “A little corsage.” 

“That’s—cute? I guess?”

“You don’t understand,” Rey says, looking at Rose now like she just got her Christmas wish. “It’s what he gave me on prom night.” 

“Ohhh. Okay, now I’m going to tear up. He’s so sweet.” 

“He truly is. Ugh, I’m so confused Rose.” 

“What’s to be confused about? He came to see you and bring you a flower. Rey, I don’t think he’s mad at you. You should call him.” 

“I’m too embarrassed,” Rey whines, with a little less conviction than before. 

“I’m sure he’s more embarrassed,” Rose responds around a mouthful of curry. 

“Fine. I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Good. Now let’s eat.”

Later, after dinner and a rewatch of _Grease_ , Rey says goodnight to Rose and heads to her room. She approaches her dresser timidly—as if the cursed sex toy will somehow spring off the wood surface and beat her into submission. She reaches for it and works to pop it out of the mold. Once she has it out, she holds it up to inspect it, noticing the ridges and veins so lifelike it makes her cheeks feel hot with embarrassment. The heft and firmness surprise her, and she sets it down with an audible clunk. 

“Jesus Christ, it _is_ like a statue. I’ll injure myself with that damn thing,” she mumbles. 

She crawls into bed and picks up her phone, staring at it for what feels like forever until she takes a deep breath, counts to three, and presses the call button next to Ben‘s contact number. Through her body, adrenaline courses stronger and stronger with each ring until it switches to voicemail, and Rey is almost dizzy from the chemical withdrawal. She stutters a bit before she’s able to eke out a sentence, and then her thoughts rush out in a jumble, like a dam breaking. 

“Hi. Um—it’s Rey. Niima. You know that, probably. Uh. I’m sorry for calling so late. I had my phone off today and missed your text and call, and I was afraid to talk to you after last night because I’m a coward. I suppose it’s a good thing you’re not answering because I can say what I think I need to say without worrying about what you’ll say back.”

She waits for a beat to try and calm her nerves before continuing. 

“Ben, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. For everything. For coming on so strong and being so aggressive and making you do— _that_ last night, and—I just feel so guilty and embarrassed because you probably think I was only using you. And if I’m honest, maybe I was when we first texted each other because it’s just been so long, and I haven’t had a relationship in years. Then we started to talk, and you were just so sweet and funny, and you’re so smart, and I guess I started to like you, which isn’t fair to you either, since you live so far away. I don’t know. I just always mess things up.” 

She keeps talking, pulling at loose threads on her blanket, forgetting she’s on his voicemail, only knowing nobody is stopping her from pouring her heart out through the thousand dollar rectangle she’s clutching in a white-knuckle grip. 

“I—I didn’t mean for it all to go so badly. I’m just so tired of everything in my life being so dull and going sideways and never having anyone to talk to. God, I probably don’t make any sense. And you probably don’t want to have anything else to do with me. But I understand. It’s okay. I just wanted to thank you for the beautiful orchid and apologize again.” 

“I should probably go. I—”

She stops herself from saying more, afraid that she will just make a bigger fool of herself if she keeps going. Instead, she ends the call by reiterating his sentiment from earlier in the day. 

“Take care of yourself, Ben.”

She falls asleep clutching her phone, pictures of Ben, orchids, and Thai food sliding in and out of her dreams and wakes up to it buzzing her alarm in her ear. She looks down to shut it off, and her heart skips a beat at the sight of a text from Ben, sent while she was sleeping. 

_—I started to like you too. I’ll be at the reunion. B_

  
  



	11. Chapter 11

“I’m so glad you decided to go to this thing. I need you to sit with me and judge everyone more successful than we are,” Rose states from her prone position, her voice muffled by the dust ruffle while she digs under her bed for just the right shoes to go with her dress for the class reunion. Rey sits on the bed, clad in her favorite little black dress, curls piled high in what Rose declared a “sexy mess” with Ben’s orchid pinned just behind her ear. Her stiletto heels are crossed at the ankles, and she’s fanning under her arms to keep from sweating through the fabric. Even though she decided to go to the reunion, she is still a combination of embarrassment, nerves, and sheer terror. Whatever emotion encompasses those three, she is feeling it in spades. 

“I don’t know,” Rey grumbles. “I still feel weird about it.”

Rose’s grunts as she scoots further under the bed in pursuit of her shoes. 

“You’ve already embarrassed yourself, and he still wants to be with you. He brought you a pretty flower. Either you’ve got a solid gold coochie, or he really likes you. Aha!” she exclaims. “Got ‘em.” She crawls backward out from under the bed, shoes in hand. 

“I mean, it could be both.” Rey mimes tossing her hair over her shoulder, making Rose giggle at the unexpected levity. 

“Nah. That’s as rare as Sasquatch.” She pauses, and her eyes brighten like she’s just gotten a new idea. “Ha! Sascooch.”

Rey slides off the bed and checks out her reflection in Rose’s full-length mirror, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles and inspecting her makeup. “You are the biggest moron.”

The doorbell rings just as Rose stands up, slipping her shoes on and grabbing her purse off her dresser. She looks at the clock and groans.

“I’m the moron with a fiancée who is always early. You sure you don’t want to come with us?”

“No, I’ll get an Uber. I want to be able to make a clean getaway if it all goes to shit.”

Rose’s brows raise in amusement. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it. But, Rey. As far as Ben goes, seriously, he still wants to see you after a decade  _ and _ a dick debacle involving his  _ mother _ and the ER. That’s got to count for something, right?”

Rey wrinkles her nose at the mention of Ben’s mother, then chews on her lower lip, contemplating the question when the doorbell rings again, and Rose turns to leave.

“It could never work, Rosie,” Rey finally responds, a wistful sadness threaded through her words. “He lives five hours away.”

“You never know until you try, Rey. Stranger things have happened. I have to go before Armie breaks the doorbell. I’ll see ya there.” She gives Rey a little salute and leaves. 

_ Stranger things have happened. _

Rey ponders Rose’s parting words as she checks her makeup in the mirror one last time. This whole week has been a series of stranger things; she has to admit. But could they make it, whatever  _ it _ is, work? 

_ He is definitely worth the risk, _ she thinks—and just like that, her decision is made. 

Fighting back another case of nerves, she pulls out her phone to order her ride. 

* * *

A bevy of royal blue mylar balloons with curled, silver ribbons dangling overhead hide the basketball hoops folded up into storage on the ceiling. Cheap blue tinsel decor draped along the gymnasium walls give off a dull sparkle from the colored lights set up next to the DJ stand at one end of the bleachers. The lights rotate around the space, which reminds Rey of the spotlight in the crow’s nest over a prison yard. It makes her jumpy. Her heart pounds with the urge to make her escape before the multicolored lights find their way back to her, alerting everyone of her presence. 

She wipes her sweaty hands on her dress and continues into the crowd of not-quite-so-young adults, peeling the name tag thrust into her hands upon arrival off its backing and placing it on her chest. While searching for Rose and Armitage, she hears a piercing squeal and cringes at the familiar sound that immediately triggers memories of high school hierarchy. 

“Oh my god! Rey Niima!” 

Her name reverberates like a gong above the white noise of mingling attendees and decade-old top ten pop hits. Mildly annoyed at being sidetracked from her hunt for the safety of her friends, Rey acknowledges Zorri Bliss’s enthusiastic welcome with a half-hearted wave and a practiced cheerful grin. 

“Zorii. Hi. It’s been a—”

“A DECADE! Ten years is what it’s been!” Zorii interrupts in a flurry of silver sequins and voluminous hair, looking like a disco ball come to life. “How  _ are _ you? What have you been up to? Are you here alone? I didn’t see a plus one on your RSVP.” She makes a show of searching over Rey’s shoulder for a date, her voice drips with edgy enthusiasm, and Rey can only assume if Zorii is anything like she used to be, she knows precisely how Rey is, what she’s up to, and that she’s at the reunion alone. 

“Oh, just, this and that. How have you been?” Rey encourages, trying to be polite and not let on that she’s scanning the crowd for anyone to come and rescue her from the clutches of this living, breathing stereotype. 

“Married!” She announces, flashing a giant diamond wedding set in Rey’s face. “It took Poe a couple of years to come to his senses, but I made an honest man out of him.”

“Poe Dameron?” Rey is taken aback by Zorii’s announcement and tries to focus on the sparkling rings demanding her attention. “Wow, you guys did the whole prom king and queen get married thing, huh?” 

Zorii blushes from the roots of her fluffy hair to the neckline of her flashy dress at the comment.

“I know. It’s so crazy. After graduation, I thought we were done. But then, when we came back home and started teaching at the same school, it just rekindled all those sparks, and, well, the rest is history. I’m still teaching over at the middle school, but Poe is in his third year as principal at the high school. We’ve been married for almost four years.”

“Wow,” Rey says again, smiling at Zorii’s infectious joy. “That’s great to hear, Zorii. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks, Rey. It’s so good to see you! I’ve seen so many old faces tonight. Rose, Kaydel, and oh my gosh, you’ll never guess who else.”

“Who?” Rey asks, already knowing the answer and feeling the adrenaline begin to pump through her system.

“Ben Solo!” Zorii says in a stage whisper, pointing in the direction of the bar. “Didn’t you two have a thing back in the day?” Rey ignores Zorii’s question and turns to see Ben, beer in hand, standing with Rose and Armitage Hux, smirking at her and completely ignoring his companions. Rey loses track of what is happening around her as their gazes lock.

It’s like she’s not wearing anything at all. That’s how it feels to have Ben look at her in that way, his eyes burning through her layers of clothing like a flame to tissue paper. She feels exposed, stripped bare, and it’s like he knows everything she’s thinking. He winks at her then before taking a pull of his fancy imported beer, and it’s a good thing she has some type of underwear as a barrier, or her thighs would be a sticky mess thanks to him. Never before has she wanted to climb a man like she wants to climb Ben Solo. Like a ladder or a tree, or just shimmy up his body like a fireman’s pole. 

The way Ben fixes his attention on Rey, it’s like their best friends aren't standing right next to him, engaged in a lively conversation. He looks at her like she is a mouth-watering meal, and he’s ravenous. She can feel her body reacting to him with just that look. In addition to the increasing wetness between her legs, her nipples are hard, and her skin is prickling remembering what he looks like naked, knowing he’s seen her naked and heard the sounds she makes when she comes. Suddenly there is too much noise, and the room is stifling, and she’s missed everything that Zorii has said until she hears her name. 

“Rey? Are you okay?”

“What?” She drags her eyes from Ben and turns back to Zorii. “Yep. Fine. Thanks. Gotta go. I see Rose. It was nice talking to you,” she says and turns to walk like a zombie towards the bar.

He hasn’t stopped staring at her. Rose and Hux have figured out that Ben is no longer interacting with them, and they follow his gaze to Rey. Rose’s face lights up, and she waves cheerfully, beckoning her closer and greeting her with a hug on arrival. 

“Hey, there. You okay?” Rose asks, giving Rey a knowing look.

“Mhm. Yep. Hey, Hux.”

“Hey, Rey,” Hux replies with a snort. Both he and Rose can tell that they have lost their audience, and he tugs at his fiance’s elbow as he slides past Rey. “We’ll leave you guys to—whatever,” he finishes with a chuckle as he guides Rose to a table across the room. 

“Bye, Hux,” Rey mumbles, vaguely acknowledging that he has pulled Rose away and she is left standing alone with Ben. 

“Hi—”

“Hi—”

They both speak at the same time and laugh at the inevitability of it all. Ben holds up his beer in invitation. 

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“I think I should probably just stick to water tonight,” Rey replies, feeling embarrassment roll over her in waves yet again as she stares down at her shoes to avoid eye contact.

“Hey,” he starts, setting down his bottle and reaching for her hand. His touch is warm and reassuring, and Rey lifts her chin to look at him again. His eyes go soft, and he gives her a small smile that makes her stomach flutter. “Why don’t we go somewhere where we can talk.” 

She nods in agreement and allows him to thread his fingers with hers and pull her along until they have exited the gym and are in the courtyard outside. They are joined only by a few partygoers who need a bit of air, some quiet, or a cigarette. The night is warm and cloudless, with a sky filled with bright moonlight. All of a sudden, Rey feels like a nervous eighteen-year-old, infatuated with the boy standing next to her under a starlit sky. He squeezes her hand to get her attention and flashes her a crooked smile when she looks at him. 

“You look beautiful, Rey. I like what you did with your hair.”

Rey flushes with pleasure, self-consciously touching the orchid in her hair. “Thanks again for it. It was lovely of you, you know, considering everything.” Her voice trails off. She could kick herself for bringing up the  _ incident _ . 

_ Way to go, Rey. Remind him of you breaking his dick. That’ll seal the deal. _

Ben laughs in response. It amazes Rey how completely unselfconscious he can be because less than forty-eight hours ago, his dick was doing an impression of Augustus Gloop. The fact that he hasn’t run screaming in the opposite direction only increases her confusion. Before she can bring herself to begin a conversation, Ben beats her to the punch. 

“I got your message, Rey. And I wanted to say that I understand. I can’t say I wasn’t a little surprised at everything, but that’s because I don’t date very often either, and I haven't had a relationship in a while. I thought, well, this must be how it goes now, so I was going to just roll with it. And most of the time, it was fun, you know, up until the end.”

Rey groans and covers her face with her hands, the mortification too much to handle. Ben only laughs again at her reaction. 

“Rey, come on. It’s okay.” He pulls her hands away from her face and holds them both in his, rubbing his thumbs along her skin, making it difficult for her to concentrate on what he is saying. 

“I thought about what you said, too—about you using me. I don’t think that’s what it was, though. You and I both had been, I guess, working up to something.” His voice grew husky, and Rey squirmed a bit, feeling the low timbre reach down deep inside some hidden part of her, making her ache with want. “I won’t lie and tell you that sleeping with you wasn't the first thing on my mind when Hux mentioned your name last week.” He pulled her closer, entering her space and bringing with him the heat of a meteor. She squirmed, wanting to get even closer yet holding back for fear of losing control and creating a very memorable scene in a high school courtyard. She smiled shyly up at him to continue. “So I don’t think you should beat yourself up over it. I could have said no.” 

“Ben, I am so embarrassed about everything. I wanted to see you yesterday, but I didn’t know you called. You see, I had my phone off all day because I just couldn’t face you. I never do anything like that. I don’t know what I was thinking. I could blame Rose. I want to blame Rose, but it isn’t her fault. She just sits there like the devil on my shoulder and lets me make all my dumbfuck decisions on my own.” She wrinkles her nose at Ben’s bark of laughter. “I was terrified that you were hurt but couldn’t grow a pair and pick up the phone to ask,” she says, ruefully. “So, are you okay? Like, really okay?”

“It was touch and go there for a while,” he replies soberly. 

Rey’s eyes go wide until she sees the spark of humor in his gaze. She swats his arm in mock outrage. “Goddammit, Ben! I’m serious!”

“I’m fine,” he says with a laugh. “I just needed to give him a day off. Rest and relaxation.”

“Oh my god, I’m going to die of embarrassment right here at this stupid reunion.”

He’s chuckling heartily now and pulls Rey towards him, eliminating the final distance between them, wrapping his arms around her. She presses her forehead to his chest, once again avoiding his penetrating gaze. 

“You know you are pretty dramatic for someone who not only got to come but also didn’t have to have their mommy drive them to the hospital to release their dick from captivity.”

His soft black sweater muffles Rey’s horrified shriek, and she garbles something that sounds like a plaintive wail of “No.”

“Mom says hi, by the way,” he quips.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” She snaps, finally looking up at him, her eyes narrowed in indignation.

“Very much so.” He places a soft kiss on her forehead and leans back to look at her, still wrapped in his arms. “Hey, if this is the worst thing to happen to us, Rey, I’d say we’re off to a great start.

Her stomach swoops again, and her heart rate picks up speed at the words  _ us _ and a  _ great start _ . 

_ Don’t fuck this up, Niima, _ she tells herself. 

“I’m, um, not sure what you mean.”

“It’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about,” he begins, and she can see the hope in his eyes mirroring her own. “I had a meeting with Poe Dameron today. He’s the principal here. They’re looking for a math teacher and, well,” he shrugs and grins, “I’m looking for a change.”

_ Stay calm, Rey,  _ she thinks. She doesn’t want to seem too eager and freak him out.

“Does this mean you’ll be moving back?” she asks timidly. Her heart is hammering, and she feels like she’ll burst with excitement. 

“I’m giving my two weeks when I go back on Monday.”

“And you want to try again?” she asks. “With me? Even after everything?”

The kiss he gives her then is enough of a response to make her toes curl. One hand slides around to rest on her hip, fingers flexing as if he is fighting the urge to palm her ass in full view of everyone outside, and it’s just this side of indecent for a public venue. The other hand cradles the back of her head while his lips move slowly over hers for what feels like forever. Rey loses all sense of time while giving in to the sensations. When his tongue dips into her mouth, she lets slip a soft moan at the taste. It’s simultaneously too much and not enough. They both pull away at the same moment. Ben’s eyes are bright and full of such desire; it makes her head swim. She almost doesn’t hear his actual answer to her question. 

“Yes. Absolutely.”

Rey sighs and wastes no time with her next question. 

“Want to get out of here, go back to my place, and pick up where we left off? You know, without the plastic tubes and hair ties?” She can’t help but giggle as she finishes. 

He growls low in some type of affirmative answer and grips her hips so tightly she is pressed flush against his growing erection, making her gasp. Any semblance of saving the skimpy panties she has on went out the window at her body’s reaction. Before she can think any further, he’s whirled her around and is rushing back into the gym in an attempt to grab their things and leave. She nearly stumbles in her heels, trying to keep up, and catches sight of Rose rolling her eyes at the two of them. It gives Rey an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, and she covers her mouth to hide her “cat that ate the canary” grin. 

“Where are you two heading so soon?” Rose teases as Ben says goodbye to Hux. 

“Um, gonna go get something to eat,” Rey says. 

“They’re literally serving dinner here, Rey.” 

_ I’m going home to fuck this guy’s brains out; now leave me alone!  _

Even though she wants to voice her thoughts, she just can’t bring herself to embarrass them both like that, so instead, she shoots Rose a deadly glare and hisses, “Shut up.” This only makes her burst into laughter. Rey rolls her eyes as Ben tugs her towards the door. 

“Wait!”

Rey turns to see Rose hurrying towards her, and Ben lets go of her hand for a moment. 

“What?” Rey snaps, fighting back annoyance at her best friend. 

“I’m sorry. I know I’ve been a pain in the ass about this stuff. But I’m happy for you. I’m going to stay over with Armie tonight. You guys be safe and have fun. I’m really happy for you, Rey.”

Rey throws her arms around Rose and squeezes tight. For all the maddening things Rose says and does, she’s still the best friend Rey has ever had. 

“Love you, Rosie.”

“Love you too. Now go get that D.”

With a final swat on Rey’s bottom, Rose laughs and turns on her heel, headed back to her fiancé, and leaving Rey shaking her head. 

“Ready?” She hears Ben whisper in her ear, his lips brushing the sensitive skin just behind, making goosebumps break out down her arms. 

She leans close to him and parrots his answer from earlier, her voice breathy and full of invitation. 

“Yes. Absolutely.”


	12. Chapter 12

The drive back to Rey’s apartment takes longer than it should. She squirms in her seat, eager to get home where they can freely touch and linger over each other for as long as they want. Ben grumbles as they manage to hit every red light on the route, but Rey makes it up to him with kisses, caresses, and the occasional naughty promise whispered in his ear. She has a wild idea of just going down on him in the car, but she’s not sure how he’d react and would rather not have to explain the situation to a police officer if Ben ran into the side of a parked car. Best to wait on that particular act until she’s fully aware of how he would respond. 

“It’s too bad you have a stick shift,” she murmurs, leaning her head back against the seat and inching her dress up infinitesimally. 

“What? Why?” He asks, glancing in her direction. She closes her eyes and spreads her legs just enough to slide her fingertips up her inner thighs, sighing as her imagination takes over. 

“Because then you could just slip your fingers inside me and take the edge off,” she whispers. 

“Fuck, Rey. You’re gonna kill me. No more of that. Put that down.” He bats at her hand, and she bursts out laughing at his pretense of being scandalized. 

“You’re not going to get shy on me now, are you?” she teases, pulling her dress up and down, comically raising her eyebrows in tandem. 

“It’s not a matter of being shy. It’s a matter of passing out from blood loss to my brain. Twenty-four-hour blue balls is enough. Now shush before I rear-end a car.”

“Ha!” she laughs, shoulders shaking as she adjusts her skirt to a more demure length. “Rear-end.”

“Rey,” he growls, giving her a side-eyed glare, and Rey’s surprised at her body’s reaction to being chastised. 

_ Well, that’s new. _

She fixes a look of contrition on her face and folds her hands in her lap, replying in a duly chastened voice.

“Sorry, Ben. I’ll be good.”

He groans at her response and clutches the steering wheel until his knuckles turn white and Rey would swear the car just sped up. 

They pull into the parking lot of her apartment building, and Rey’s never seen someone exit a car so fast. Ben is running around to her side like he’s in a NASCAR pit crew, and she giggles again, thrilled with his enthusiasm. 

He pulls her out of the car and pushes her up against the open door, crashing his lips to hers in a desperate ferocity that leaves her breathless. When he pulls away, she’s gasping, her lips swollen and wet, her chest heaving as she attempts to steady herself. 

“I couldn’t help it,” he says apologetically. “That was a long drive.”

“The longest,” she agrees. 

“Come on.”

Clasping hands, they half walk, half jog to the door of the apartment, where Rey tries three times to punch in the security code, distracted by the soft kisses Ben is peppering all over the back of her neck and shoulders. When she finally gets the code right, they lurch through the doors, heading for the elevator. Rey stares at it and groans. 

“Shit. The elevator is still broken.”

Before she can say another word, Ben whirls her around and hoists her over his shoulder like a fireman carrying a damsel in distress from a burning building. Rey bursts out laughing and puts up a half-hearted struggle—one part mortified at the sight they must make, the other part incredibly turned on by Ben’s enthusiasm to get her upstairs. 

“Oh my god, put me down, you maniac! If I have to miss out on you because of another ER visit, I’m going to be extremely pissed off.”

Ben only laughs at her fussing and gently swats her backside. 

“Be quiet,” he admonishes her. “You have neighbors.”

He climbs the first flight swiftly and stops on the landing to put Rey down and press her up against the chilled cement wall. He places his hands on either side of her face, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, smiling softly. She closes her eyes as he leans forward to brush his lips against hers. He kisses her like it’s their first kiss—full of tenderness, taking his time to savor the experience. When he pulls back to look at her, his expression is one of wonder, as if he still cannot believe she’s allowing him to touch her like this. Instinctively he slips his hand beneath the hem of her dress, his fingers meeting the warm flesh of her thigh, and lifts her leg to rest on his hip, allowing him to melt his body into hers. This time it’s his turn to moan into her mouth at the feel of her soft body pressed against his. 

At the risk of losing any sense of decorum and wrapping her legs around him to fuck her on the stairway, Ben reluctantly tears himself away from her, grabbing her hand and yanking her the rest of the way. Rey is breathlessly laughing by the time they reach her apartment. With a flourish, she unlocks the door and throws it open, turning to face Ben with a heated look that ignites the constant low burning fire inside him. It takes only two strides for Ben to enter the apartment and wrap her in his arms, throwing her world off its axis with a single devastating kiss and kicking the door shut behind him. 

She can’t get enough of his lips. Soft yet firm and plush, they move over her mouth like they are made for her. She could spend hours just kissing this man, feeling his tongue licking inside, tasting him tasting her. It is a heady feeling, drinking in the intoxicating heat from his body, wrapped in his arms, knowing exactly what is in store for her. 

Ben is just as bewildered as Rey is by everything that has brought them to this moment. He breaks the kiss to look at her, to smile and see her smile in return, letting her know he feels it too. She throws her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and squeezing him tightly. He can smell the clean, fruity smell of her shampoo and breathes it in as she holds him. He runs his hands up and down her arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake, and places a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Rey? Are you okay?”

“I’m just really glad you’re here,” she says. It comes out muffled; her face pressed into the soft sweater and muscular chest. “That I didn’t screw it all up so badly that you’d never want to see me again.” 

“Hey.” Ben tilts her face up towards his, wanting her to know just how much he wants this—wants her. “I’m here. We’re starting over, right? I’m right where I want to be. You have no idea just how much I want to be with you.”

Rey nods and looks away before looking back at him with a determined expression. She bites her lip and closes her eyes while her next words come out in a rush. 

“I want to clear something up first.”

“Okay?” He says, the question evident in his voice. 

“I probably should have said it before, but I wasn't sure.”

It’s Ben’s turn to be unsure now, and he chuckles nervously when she covers her eyes with her hands. 

“ _ You’re  _ not gonna get shy on me now, are you?”

“No,” she replies with a shake of her head. “I guess not. I just. I mean, I’m on birth contro. l Have been for a while. I have condoms in the bathroom if you want, but if you—I mean, I haven’t, you know, in a long time, and I’ve never had sex without a condom before. But if you don’t want to—”

“Rey, I would very much like that. And I haven’t either. Had sex, I mean. In a long time. But I got tested a while ago. And it’s all okay. So—” he trails off, and they both break into wide grins. 

“Okay, then.”

“Okay.”

Rey visibly relaxes, placing her hands on his chest. “I’m sorry. That was so awkward.” 

“Don’t be sorry. Thank you for trusting me and being honest.”

She slides her hands over his chest and down his arms, finally taking his hands in hers, walking backward through the apartment to the bedroom. She drops his hands and looks up at him expectantly. 

Reaching behind her, Rey slowly unzips her dress and slides it off her shoulders. Ben watches as it drifts to the floor with a faint swishing sound. Rey can feel his heated gaze traveling up her legs and freezing as he registers what he’s seeing. 

“Oh, my god.”

He’s made love to this woman once upon a time, seen her naked, splayed out on her kitchen counter, bringing herself to orgasm in the most lurid display. He’s had her underneath him with his mouth between her legs and his tongue inside her, and yet this is the sight that he’ll have burned in his memory for a very long time. 

Delicate embroidered butterflies do their best to shyly cover Rey’s pretty pink nipples and the apex of her thighs. At the same time, tiny scraps of sheer peach fabric reveal the rest of her body, tantalizingly showing him every inch of skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. It takes his breath away. All he can do is stare at the flirty set that can barely qualify as a bra and panties. If he wasn’t hard already, the knowledge that she wore that for him would cause such an immediate rush of blood to his dick he’d probably get dizzy and pass out. 

Rey can feel his eyes on her—his gaze burning a trail of need over her body, leaving a flush of pink in its wake that inflames her cheeks and makes her feel feverish. She knows he wants her just as much as she wants him, but the longer he stares at her, the more she realizes how ridiculous she must look with butterflies all over her tits. She reaches her arms up self-consciously to cover up until he reaches out and tenderly clasps her wrists. 

“Don’t.”

“Is it okay? Rose bought it for me. It’s not—“

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

He tightens his grip slightly and pulls her close to him, sliding his hands up her arms and around her, reaching up to undo her hair. Setting the orchid on the bedside table, he pulls out the pins and watches as her hair tumbles around her shoulders. He cups the sides of her face with his hands, running his thumbs across the soft, freckled skin on her cheeks, and leans toward her, watching as her eyes flutter closed. 

“You’re so beautiful, Rey,” he whispers as he brushes his lips over hers, soft and ephemeral, the gentlest of brief touches. She smiles shyly in response; eyes still closed as she absorbs the sensations of Ben enveloping her body. She backs away, reaching down to begin unbuckling her shoes when he hauls her roughly back up and into his arms, taking her by surprise. Her breasts press against his hard body, and her nipples instantly tighten at the sensation. She whimpers at the contact. 

“Ben?”

“Leave them on.”

A small squeak escapes her when, without warning, he scoops her up and tosses her onto the bed. Her eyes are wide with surprise as she stares up at Ben, and he can’t help but smirk at her reaction. She’s a contradiction of innocence and seduction with her dimpled grin, mouth swollen from kisses, and hair a riot of tangles from his hands. She’s the sexiest woman he’s ever seen, and he tells her directly. 

“No, I’m not,” she flushes bashfully at his praise, and Ben tuts her, making quick work of his clothes. She watches him crawl toward her on the bed until he’s close enough to take her hand and pull it towards him, stopping briefly to raise his eyebrows in a gesture of inquiry. Even in the middle of a full-on seduction, he has to be sure. A nod of her head and a wicked grin are all he needs to place her hand on his hard length, pausing just long enough to reassure her. 

“Yes, you are. Feel what you do to me.” He thrusts into her palm, and she peeks up at him through her eyelashes, their rhythmic breathing in sync with each other. 

Before she can slow down her panting breaths, he’s on her, his mouth beginning at her neck, sucking and kissing softly as he slowly moves in a hot, wet path down the front of her body. He stops where her breasts swell above the fabric and sucks a mark onto the silky skin, sending shivers straight to the center of her. Rey can feel her cunt throbbing at the thought of being marked by him. The idea fills her with a primal sense of pride at being his. 

His fingers dip inside the bra and pull the cups down, giving him access to her bare breasts. When his hot mouth closes over one nipple, palming the other with his hand, she cries out, threading her fingers through his hair and pressing him closer, urging him to go harder. Naturally, he is all too happy to give her exactly what she wants and alternates suckling and licking, even daring to bite just a little while she wiggles and mumbles little encouragements. 

“Tell me what you want, Rey,” he whispers against her skin, his tongue leaving a hot trail down the planes of her stomach. 

“Everything,” she breathes, and she can feel his breath as he laughs quietly against her skin. When he reaches her panties, he pulls them swiftly down her legs and places his hand on her, covering her completely, the tip of his middle finger teasing her deliciously. 

“Everything, huh? You’re so wet, Rey. I want to eat this pretty pussy until you come. Does that sound good?” he asks, sliding his finger inside and pulling it out, just to the tip, and then sliding it back. Over and over, he does this until she’s pushing up toward him, begging for more. 

“Please.” 

“Answer me, Rey.”

“What? I forgot—oh god—the question.”

“I said do you want me to eat this pretty pussy until you come all over my face?”

“Fuck! Yes!”

His hand is instantly gone, and his mouth has replaced it, latching on to her swollen, sensitive flesh. He consumes her with intensity—a ferocity that makes her feel sexy and wanted. Her hands fist at the rumpled sheets, grounding her while he continues lavishing filthy hot attention to her. Over and over, he draws her tight as a bowstring, relentlessly lapping and sucking until she is breathing like she’s running, ever closer to the finish line. 

“B-ben! Gonna come!” she wails. He growls in response, pinning her hips in place and moving in for the kill as she reaches her climax, her body writhing in pleasure. She weakly pushes at him, trying to catch her breath and ease away from the overstimulation. Ben only moans and flattens his tongue, licking her entire sex in one swipe. 

Rey shudders at the tiny jolts that shoot through her. She barely has time to come down from her orgasm to see Ben wipe his hand across his face and fix her with a look that she’s only ever seen in animals about to attack. 

“Wha—“ is all she manages to say before Ben has grabbed her and flipped over into a seated position, pulling her with him like a limp rag doll. Grasping her by the waist, he lifts her effortlessly and positions her astride him. Rey’s eyes flutter closed as she feels the tip of him nudging her entrance. Her hands grip his biceps, and she can feel the power in his arms that hold her hovering just this side of heaven. 

“Look at me,” he orders. Though not forceful, the tone, deep and husky, brooks no disobedience, and Rey’s eyes fly open in surprise, a thrill shooting through her. 

“That’s better,” he murmurs before his voice gets just a bit hoarse as he lowers her the tiniest bit onto his straining erection. “Keep your eyes on me. I’ve waited for this for a long time, and I’m going to enjoy watching you.”

She relaxes into his embrace, allowing him to slide inside her slowly, and it’s better than she remembers. Every breath brings them closer together, her cunt wet, soft, and ready, welcoming him inch by inch until their bodies are flush, her thighs quivering as they grip either side of him, and his hard cock throbbing inside her. He makes no effort to move her or himself, and she tries to rock against him, only to be stopped by his hands clutching at her hips. 

“Please, Ben,” she begs in frustration. The stretch of him, the way his body is making her feel, just sitting still underneath her is driving her crazy. Her body is full of him, no room for escape, not that she’d want to. She needs him to move, but he chuckles darkly and bends down to capture a sensitive nipple between his lips, flexing inside her and drawing a deep moan from the pit of her belly. She reaches up to thread her hands through his hair, holding him close while he worships her with his mouth and makes tiny little movements that radiate out from her core to every part of her body. Just before moving to her other breast, he murmurs against her skin, tickling her with his teasing words. 

“Shh. Patience, sweetheart. You don’t have to control it. Just let go.”

“Oh god,” Rey moans as he drags his mouth to her other taut peak. She can tell she’s in for it just based on those words alone. It only makes her want him more, and her cunt clenches around him reflexively, clit throbbing in response to his words of encouragement. 

His hands find her hips, and he grips them tightly, gently sliding her up and down his length. He’s coated with her arousal, his hard cock sliding deliciously against her aching clit. She can’t believe how quickly her body responds after the ridiculous orgasm she just had, but it feels better than anything. He’s in charge, and she doesn’t have to worry about it. Rey gives in to it all and lets Ben work her body, feeling the smooth drag and push inside her. 

“Hold on to me,” he commands, and again she obeys, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. His relentless pounding up into her, combined with the way he’s gripping her like he doesn’t want to let her get away, is bringing her higher and higher. Her eyes close again, and he reaches up to grasp her chin. 

“I said eyes on me.”

Then he’s kissing her with a heat that decimates her. It’s possessive and bossy and everything she didn’t know she wanted. She does what he says and watches him staring at her with such intensity as he does the most wicked things to her body. It’s all too much when he reaches between them to rub his thumb on her clit, all the while praising her. 

“You’re so beautiful. Feel so good. You’re a dream, Rey. You’ve been my dream. I can’t believe how lucky I am to touch you. To be inside you.”

She can feel herself begin to fall, her cunt starting that hot wet spasm that tears her apart, and she lets it happen, knowing he’s there to catch her and put her back together again. They both begin to beg and plead and cry out in a cacophony. 

“Oh god. Please, Ben. Please don’t stop. I’m gonna come on your perfect cock. Your perfect hard cock. I love it. Please don’t stop.”

“Do it, Rey. Come all over me. Let me feel it.”

“Fuck. Oh my god, Ben, I’m coming. I’m  _ coming _ ! Don’t stop. Don’t. Stop. Oh. God!”

“I can feel it. I can feel you coming. Fuck Rey. 

Everything and nothing exist at that moment when they come together like a silent white-hot explosion. Rey collapses on his chest, shivering and shaking as they ride out their shared bliss. Her body goes limp, and he manages to slide out of her and pull her up next to him to cuddle in one fluid movement. Their mouths find each other and share small, open-mouthed kisses, pausing to gaze briefly at each other as Ben brushes her hair off her damp cheeks.

“Holy shit,” she says after the third such kiss. She looks and feels dazed like she’s reached some religious nirvana. 

_ Ben Solo is pretty intense after three years of no sex. _

“Yeah. Wow. Was that okay? I wasn’t too rough or anything?”

“I don’t think so,” she says, blushing. 

“Are you embarrassed? After all that we’ve already done?”

“I don’t know!” she whines, and Ben is starting to notice her habit of burying her face in his chest when she is. He thinks it’s adorable. 

“Well, get over it. Because I plan on us doing that again.”

Rey lifts her head off his chest, her hair fluffing out in all directions, and giggles. “Okay. After a nap.”

“Deal.”  


* * *

It’s her grumbling stomach that wakes her up, reminding her that they didn’t have dinner at the reunion. She has no idea what time it is; her phone in her bag is somewhere on the other side of the apartment, tossed haphazardly over her shoulder when they came inside. Ben must have turned everything off after Rey fell asleep because the streetlights outside cutting through the window blinds are the only illumination in her bedroom. She can just make out his shape outlined on the bed next to her, his arms thrown above his head, looking so relaxed she’s afraid to move for fear of waking him. 

Her stomach flips at the memory of what they’ve done together—a telltale throbbing between her legs and ache in her thighs the beginnings of what will probably be a significant bow-legged walk in the morning. Rey covers her mouth at the instant giggle threatening to burst out of her and tiptoes over to her closet to pull out her black silk robe, removing the tags that are still attached after months of hanging unused behind skirts, pants, and blouses. She bought it on a whim while on a shopping trip with Rose, hoping one day to have a reason to wear it. The silk glides over her skin, already sensitized by Ben’s touch. 

She quietly tiptoes out of the room and into the kitchen, on a mission to calm the growling beast that is her appetite. In the process of gathering a plate of snacks, she hears him. He’s not quiet, not wanting to startle her, she supposes, but he’s not speaking, choosing to creep behind her, so she continues with her task, wondering what is in store for her. Just as she has finished placing the last handful of berries in a bowl, she feels his hand palm her ass, cupping and squeezing and sliding the fabric over her naked skin. She hums in contentment and turns to set the bowl down, taking in the sight of this beautiful man rumpled from sleep, his coal black hair sticking out from all angles, cheeks warm and pink. 

“This feels incredible,” he says as a greeting, pulling her in for a kiss and running his hands up and down the robe. 

“Mmm. You should feel it from my side.”

“Maybe I can wear it later,” he teases. “Get the full treatment.”

“Maybe,” she giggles as his kisses move down her jaw, to her neck and collarbones. He breathes deeply into her hair and sighs, lifting her onto the kitchen counter. From there, he proceeds to pick berries from her dish and feed them to her, feeling the slow stirrings of desire as her pink tongue darts out to lick the juice off his fingers. 

“You know, I remember the scent of your hair,” he says all of a sudden.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember Mr. Canady?”

“The math teacher?” she asks, popping a particularly juicy berry in his mouth and relishing his groan when she licks the juice that has dripped onto his chin. 

“Yeah, I sat behind you, remember?”

“Of course. I was in full crush mode. I used to doodle your name in my notebook.”

He snorts at her response. “You’re cute. Well, whenever you would toss your hair and laugh, I’d smell berries. It would make me hard. Right in the middle of calculus.”

“Oh my god, are you serious?” she asks incredulously. 

“Yeah, it, uh—it made for a lot of awkward boners when mom would drag me to that lotion store in the mall. And I’m pretty sure it’s why I majored in math.”

Rey has been giggling through Ben’s story, and now she’s in a full laughing fit, her eyes squeezed shut and her shoulders shaking, causing her robe to slip off one side. Ben reaches out to help it along and stands transfixed, watching it shimmer as it pools around her waist, exposing her pert, well-loved breasts. 

Her nipples immediately harden in the chill of the room, and Ben wastes no time pressing his tongue to them, alternating between them, savoring the feel of her tender nipples and the taste of her skin. She tosses her head back, holding him close to her, fingers gently tugging his hair, and makes a small sound of contentment.

“I found something I thought was interesting,” he murmurs against her, parting her legs to pull her even closer and moaning himself when he feels her wet center pressing against him. 

“Hmm?” 

Ben reaches behind him and holds up the object that had up until now sat unnoticed on the counter. 

“Oh shit,” Rey exclaims, dragged out of her haze of arousal to stare in mortification at—the thing. She begins to babble excuses as Ben watches in amusement. “I was going to throw it away, but Rose said it would be a shame to waste it because it cost so much, so she finished it.”

“I’m glad.” 

“You are?”

“Mhm. You have no idea. I want to use this on you. Right now. What do you think?”

Rey stutters her response. “Use—use it how?”

His answer—two fingers held up and an eyebrow raised in a challenge that makes her entire body feel like a live wire. 

_ We are really going to do this! _

“Holy shit,” she whispers. Then louder, “Yeah. Yes. Yes, please.”

He wastes no time teasing her with his lips and fingers until she is in a heated frenzy. Leaving all thought of food behind, he lifts her to carry her back into the bedroom and carefully places her in the center of the nest of bedsheets. He moves to slide the monster dildo inside when Rey immediately tenses up at the first press of it against her. 

“Wait!”

“Are you okay?” he asks with evident concern. “Should I stop?”

“No. No, it’s just. Really, uh, firm? I have some. Jesus, why is this embarrassing?”

“Rey, I don’t see how we can be embarrassed about anything anymore,” he says with a chuckle. 

She throws a hand over her eyes and exclaims, “There’s lube under the sink.”

“The bathroom sink?”

“Kitchen.”

“Be right back.”

She hears him scurry off back to the kitchen, followed by the clatter of cabinets and products one would typically find under a kitchen sink. She’s pretty sure she hears a muffled cackle, and her whole body is very red with embarrassment by the time he is back beside her. In his hand is the economy-size, sixty-four-ounce jug of personal lubricant, complete with a hand pump for convenience. 

“What the fuck? Why is it so big?” He can’t seem to contain his laughter at this point, and Rey cannot believe the insanity of the situation. 

“Rose,” she says simply, and Ben nods in understanding. 

“Rose sounds fucking scary.”

“She’s a nightmare.”

“Wonder how long it will take us to use this up,” he jokes.

“Let’s get started and find out.”

She is hot and slippery when he tries again, as he has dutifully coated her sex with an abundance of the lube. He slides the dildo in her slowly, watching the excitement and pleasure play across her face, her mouth open in a perfect o-shape. He fucks her with it, long and slow, teasing her, tormenting her, enjoying every reaction, every mewl and whimper as she gets closer to the brink, then pulling back before she reaches her climax. 

“Turn over, sweetheart. Put that hot ass in the air for me so I can fuck both holes with my cock.”

“Ben!”

“What?”

“You’re dirty!” she scolds but turns over just the same.

“You fingered yourself on your kitchen counter two days ago, Rey. Now, ass up.”

Rey’s laughter gives way to a gasp as she feels a finger, covered in the viscous lubricant, slide ever so slowly past the tight muscle and into a place that no one has ever known. She squirms, letting her body adjust as she languidly fucks the replica of his hard cock. 

One finger, then two, stretching her to accommodate him, and the sensation, though foreign and a bit overwhelming, isn't bad. He lets her get adjusted to it for a while before pulling out. Rey hears the pump again and feels more of the cool liquid spread over and inside her, and she freezes when she senses him  _ there _ . 

“You okay?”

“I think so.”

“Take a deep breath and try to relax.”

“Okay.”

His relentless hardness presses into her slowly, and she takes a deep breath, letting it out as he pushes in slightly. He is patient with her, waiting until she gives the okay before pressing forward, always questioning and making sure she feels good. The feeling of absolute fullness from the toy intensifies when he pushes inside the virgin territory. It’s the idea of having two of him at the same time that causes her to flutter, a tiny shock of an orgasm signaling what’s to come. It makes her groan and must have entirely relaxed her because he can push completely inside, grunting with pleasure at her tightness. 

“Fuck, Rey.”

“I know.”

“I want you to be in control, so I don’t hurt you. Push up onto your knees.”

The shift in position hits the spot inside her that makes her whimper, her breasts rubbing against the sheets as she pushes up and back into him. She begins a rocking motion, a back and forth rhythm that keeps her alternately filled with him and the toy, taking turns penetrating her, driving her crazy with desire. 

“You feel amazing. So fucking tight. You’re incredible, Rey.”

She feels powerful like this; even though he is bigger and stronger, she is in complete control. She is the one fucking  _ him.  _ It’s almost too much to take. Her breathing, along with her thrusts, becomes erratic, and she reaches down to adjust the dildo, intending to keep it still while the tension builds. 

Her fingers come into contact with a small bump at the bottom, a button or switch she hadn’t noticed before. 

_ What does that do? _ she wonders, just before all hell breaks loose. 

With one click, the vibrator inside goes from zero to sixty and nearly skyrockets Rey off the bed. She comes with a garbled wail into the mattress and clamps down so hard on Ben he loses control, thrusting into her maniacally, making noises he’s never made in front of any woman before. 

With a final thrust, he spills into her, grunting and clutching desperately at her hips, holding her tight to him for a second before collapsing and trying not to crush her under his weight. He rolls to his back, and, with barely enough strength, she does the same before flopping like a satisfied starfish, draping a leg and arm over the side of his body. 

“Well, that was fantastically filthy,” she says with a smile, looking and feeling giddy, still panting and shivering as she feels her cunt pulsing and throbbing. “I need a shower.”

“Before that, I need to ask,” he gasps, his breathing still labored after the effort he just put forth. “Did it live up to the hype? Is it indeed,” he clears his throat and turns his head to look at her face with its beautiful blissed-out expression, flushed cheeks, and shining bright eyes, “a monument to erectile perfection?”

Rey turns her head so fast she looks possessed, her eyes wide with shock before narrowing them to slits. Shaking her head, she huffs in irritation. 

“I’m going to kill Rose Tico.”

Ben’s roaring laughter fills the room at her murderous statement. He wraps his arms around her and tugs until she’s rolling toward him. 

“Oh, I’m sure she’s not all bad.”

Rey drapes herself on Ben’s body, relishing the feel of his skin under hers. She mouths a kiss to his sternum before resting her chin on his chest.

“Our first relationship task is going to be establishing boundaries with our dumb ass friends.”

“Relationship, huh?” Ben nods in agreement. “I like the sound of that. What’s the second task?”

Rey’s dimples deepen when she smiles, and her eyes twinkle with merriment. Ben has never seen anything more beautiful. Before leaning in for another kiss, she says, “We can make them up as we go.”

“I can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is. The final chapter of this thing that evolved from a manic Twitter thread about dildos and beans and turned into porny crack with feelings lol. I hope you all have enjoyed the ride. There’s just a quick epilogue to go after this. Thanks everyone for the support and big big thanks to Brooke for being my cheerleader through this process!


	13. Epilogue

_**SIX MONTHS LATER** _

“Hurry, get in here.”

“Ben, what are we doing?”

“Shh. Just come here.” He tugs Rey along into a cluttered supply closet around the corner from the main ballroom, where guests are feasting on crab cakes and champagne, chatting with strangers about the happy couple and their beautiful wedding. He dips low to place a kiss on her upturned face. He succeeds in curling her toes, as always, with his skillful mouth. 

“I missed you,” he whispers as he begins to trail tiny kisses down her jawline while his hands start to travel upwards. 

“Missed me? I was gone one night! You know the bride and groom aren’t supposed to be together the night before the wedding!”

“Yeah, but not the maid of honor and the best man! Why’d you have to babysit her? Our bed was too cold,” he complains, nipping lightly at her collarbones. 

“She’s my best friend, Ben! We had to do girly things. You survived.”

“Barely. We need to have reunion sex.”

Rey barks out a laugh and tries to untangle herself from her enthusiastic boyfriend, who suddenly seems to have turned into an octopus, arms everywhere in a tight grip. When he growls low and licks a trail from her cleavage to the soft spot behind her ear, she realizes, with a shiver, that he is quite serious. 

“Good god, what’s gotten into you, you horny bastard?” she gasps as he mouths her neck just _there_ in that spot that always gives her goosebumps. 

“It’s your fault for looking like this in that dress and making me hard in a church.”

“It’s absolutely not my fault you can’t control that thing.”

He chuckles and slides his hand up her dress to caress the soft skin on her thigh just below the curve of her ass. When he moves higher, he can tell she is wearing a tiny thong that he would swear she bought solely to torment him. Knowing her ass is technically completely bare under that dress is enough to make him crazy. He groans at the thought of pulling it aside and thrusting home in one swift movement. 

“Fuck. This tiny thing just makes it worse. Hop up on that table. I’ll be quick.”

“Ben, we can’t.”

“Shh. Nobody will know.” He raises her skirt, grabs her hips, lifts her as if she were light as a feather, and parks her on a small table. 

“They'll hear us!”

“Not if you can be quiet,” he insists. 

“Me?!” She groans as his fingers slide inside her—there’s no way to hide that she’s already wet for him despite her weak protests. “You’re the one who roars like a bear when you come.”

“Oh yeah, well, you squeak like a chipmunk,” he retorts, curling his fingers inside her to hit that very spot that elicits a sound that, to her dismay, sounds very much like a woodland animal. 

“Fuck you,” she laughs. 

“Yes, please.”

“With my three hundred dollar dress up around my ears? You’re going to mess your tuxedo. We’ll have to pay a cleaning fee.”

“Shh. It’s worth it. You look so fucking hot in that dress, and I can’t take it.”

He pushes the skirt of her dress up around her waist and the bodice down to just under her breasts to lavish attention on her nipples, effectively pinning her arms by her side. Rey grabs the table to brace herself, knowing that no matter how slow and gentle her boyfriend is, one hard thrust of that delicious dick of his will throw off her center of gravity. She watches eagerly, biting her lip as he frantically unzips his tuxedo pants and pulls out his hard cock. For all her protests, her mouth waters at the sight. 

“Open wide, baby,” he says. Rey frowns in annoyance. 

“Open wide? Ben, that’s what the dentist says. It’s so not sex—. “

“You know what I mean.”

He cuts her off at that, turning her words into soft moans of pleasure as he enters her in one smooth thrust. The illicit act of a quickie at Rose’s wedding with two hundred people just a few feet away increases her excitement. They very well _could_ get caught, and somehow, that makes it so much hotter. 

He continues to fuck her languidly, his mouth moving from one wet nipple to the other and devouring her soft lips as if he has all the time in the world. 

“You’re so beautiful. I love you, Rey.”

“I love you too, Ben,” she replies, fluttering around him in a surge of arousal, indicating how close she is getting. “Harder,” she pants. “Fuck me harder.”

The table rattles as he increases his pace, and Rey is meeting him thrust for thrust, catching his feverish excitement. Every time he drives into her, her gasps get louder and louder until she notices a very familiar voice outside the door. 

“I saw them go this way,” Rose says. There’s a fierce determination, couple with annoyance in her voice. Rey tries to get Ben to stop and listen, but he keeps going, hitting her in just the right spot. She’s desperately trying to hold on to coherent thought as Rose bangs hard on the door. 

“Rey, are you in there? Wait. Armie, I hear something.” 

The banging on the door gets louder, and Ben stops, his eyes comically wide. 

“I told you!” Rey mouths to Ben. He only shrugs and begins to slow down, rotating his hips and smirking at her reaction. Her fingers grip the table as fiercely as her thighs grip his hips, and she bites her lip to keep from crying out. 

“What. The. Fuck?” The heavy pounding on the door rivals an FBI raid. Rose’s angry screech pierces the thin wooden door. “Are you two fucking at my wedding?!”

“R-Rose, I’ll um. Be. Right. _There_.” The last word comes out warbled as Ben curls into her just right. He covers her mouth with his hand and buries his face in her chest, muffling both their laughter at the absurdity of two grown adults fucking in a supply closet in an upscale boutique hotel.

“Ohhh shit,” Hux says. He begins to laugh until a thumping sound abruptly cuts him off. “Ow!”

“I am gonna kill her, Armie. Then I’m gonna kill him. And if you laugh again, I might kill you!”

“Shh. Babe, it’s fine. Come on. They’ll be back soon.” Hux’s soothing voice is doing its job as Rose’s rampage dies down infinitesimally. 

“But, the toasts are gonna start,” she huffs. 

“Just. Shh. Come on.” 

She makes a sound of resignation before throwing back a parting shot, laced with outrage. 

“I’m going to stab you, Rey.”

They hold still for a moment as Rose’s ranting fades away before breaking into a laughing fit. Ben raises his eyebrows in question, and Rey rolls her eyes, nodding in agreement as if she would stop him now. She relaxes and lets him take over—her favorite thing to do.

“Oh god, that feels good. She really is gonna kill me,” Rey says, closing her eyes and savoring the feel of him inside her. 

“No, she won’t. She’ll just get back at you at our wedding,” Ben replies, his voice straining with the effort.

Rey’s eyes pop open.

“What did you say?”

Ben stops again, breathing heavily, shocked at having blurted it out like that. 

“Oh. Um. Rey. I. Fuck. I didn’t plan on asking when I was inside of you.” 

A sudden clenching throb is nearly enough to make her eyes roll back in her head, and she thrusts towards him, needing more friction. 

“Oh god, why did that sound so hot? Fuck, that made me wetter. Do it—anyway,” her legs lock at the ankles around his waist, and she’s pushing herself up off the table, nearly riding his cock in wild abandon. Ben lowers his gaze to where they’re joined, watching her take every bit of him. 

“What?” 

“Do it,” she gasps. “Ask me anyway. While you’re inside of me. Say it.”

“But don’t you want—“

“I want you. Just you. Forever. Just like this. Say it, Ben. We’ll make up a story for everyone else.”

He groans as she clenches hard, encouraging him. 

“I fucking love you so much, Rey. Marry me.”

“Yes,” she cries out as she comes, covering her mouth with her hand as Ben increases the tempo, impaling her hard and fast on his cock until he comes with the growl Rey mentioned earlier, and she covers his mouth with her other hand, letting him hold her up as he thrusts home. 

They hold each other after in complete silence. The only thing accompanying their breathing is the wedding band playing old standards while the guests finish their dinners. Rey knows they have to get back but doesn’t want to break the spell, the heady feeling of being loved, wanted, and thoroughly spent. 

When their breathing is relatively back to normal, and Ben has pulled out his pocket square to hand over to Rey, he asks sheepishly, “Was that a yes you’ll marry me, or were you just—“

“Yes, you idiot.”

He makes a sound halfway between a chuckle and a sigh of relief before taking the fabric from Rey and helping to clean her up, putting her thong back into position and tucking the square back into his jacket pocket with a mischievous wink. Rey’s whole body burns, and she knows she’s beet red to the roots of her hair. 

“Ben!”

“Well, I have to put it somewhere. Besides, I’ll get to smell you all night now.”

“Ew! You are so embarrassing!”

They help each other set their clothing right, and Rey hastily fixes her mussed hair and makeup in the reflection of a large, discarded metal coffee dispenser. Turning from side-to-side, inspecting her dress, she looks over her shoulder at Ben, crouched low, tying a shoe. 

“Do I look okay?”

“You look beautiful, sweetheart.”

“Thank you,” she says, with a squint into the coffee pot at her warped reflection. 

“But I think something is missing,” he continues. 

“What? Oh no, what happened?” She turns her full attention to him to see him still kneeling, holding a very sparkly ring. 

“Ben! Oh my god!”

His cheeks go pink, and she knows if she were to brush his beautiful hair back, his ears would be just as pink with blushing excitement. She loves him so much at this moment, her heart aches.

“I had a plan. You just kind of threw me for a loop,” he says. 

“Oh, Ben. Did I ruin it? I’m sorry. I always seem to fuck things up—“

“Rey, stop.” He stands and takes her hand, looking into her eyes. “You didn’t ruin anything. You make everything more exciting than I ever could have dreamed. You’ve made the last six months the best of my life. I missed out on so much time with you, and I can't imagine not having you by my side for the rest of our lives. So, will you marry me?”

“Oh, Ben,” she whispers, her eyes filled with tears and her nose burning, and dammit, he always does this. Now she has to go back out there with a blotchy red face from crying. 

“Is that a yes?”

“I already said yes! Twice!”

“Just making sure,” he says. He slips the ring on her finger and kisses her hand. 

“It fits perfectly!” Rey’s surprise is evident as she turns her hand to capture the light sparkling in the diamonds. 

“Well, I measured your finger while you slept. Didn’t want to risk anything getting stuck.” 

“Jesus Christ. You’re never going to let me forget that are you?”

“Are you kidding? It’ll be a cautionary tale for our kids.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” she threatens with a sharp smack on his arm. He only laughs and pulls her close for a quick kiss. 

“Come on. They’re waiting for us.”

“I love you, Ben.”

He grins at her, all crooked teeth, freckles, and crinkled eyes, and her heart skips a beat, just as it did when she was only eighteen.

“I know.”

As he takes her hand and squeezes it, she’s filled with a sense of complete satisfaction, like she finally has everything she’s ever wanted. It’s nothing short of—perfection. 


End file.
